$14 billion earmarked for BC transit

Transit has not kept up the pace with growth in the lower mainland. The sky train lines are frankly crappy technology...the elevation means poor use of land around the train and the limited number of cars that are available on the line means transporting a limited number of people.

 Also, those lines themselves don't have much to do with meeting actual transport needs they have more do with politics.

 Logic would dictate that the Line to UBC should have been the first one built, a massive east west line and then intersected by a North South Line....then expand from there.

The announcement is long overdue, as for buses they are required in the lower mainland even though I take the bus every day I think it is the absolute worse type of transit.

Thanks  for reading my rant 

Better/More buses=less cars=less congestion and accidents... all good in my book, but I'm troubled by the level of distruction and obstruction already with the Cambie construction... they likely won't be doing all this through the Olympics, either. 2012 may be pushing it.

24-hour Skytrain service would be more useful if Skytrain served more regions; it's fairly limited and, as mentioned above, too small to be considered a serious people-mover. I've seen larger elevated trains servicing the airport in New Jersey.

The elephant in the room is the new Translink board is no longer democratically elected, no longer answerable to mayors or city councils or the electorate in any way, made up of Gordon Campbell's big business developer buddies, and most of the big bucks will go to projects that line their pockets.

They will pay no attention to climate change, cyclists, or the real transportation needs of the lower mainland but will spend a fortune wastefully expanding the area used up by single passenger autos, and building 1.5 billion a kilometre skytrain lines, and spending the taxpayers money on unsustainable methods and projects.

The only people to benefit in the long run will be the big money developers, and the taxpayers no longer even have a say.

They will spend and we will pay! 

My name is Scott Podwinski and as you may or may not know, I am the founder of the petition to keep Skytrain running 24 hours. I read todays article on the provincial government giving $14 Billion to Translink for the Evergreen, UBC, & Canada lines plus upgrades to Expo line, as well as a few new busses. Premier Campbell says "Our new plan will double transit ridership by increasing choice for people around the province." I doubt just because you add a few new busses and add electronic gates that ridership will DOUBLE. You need to add more routes and extend Skytrain hours. I think this is perfect timing for my petition to keep Skytrain running 24 hours because now we all know that money isn't going to be an issue. As for maintenence issues, if trains are running every 1/2 hour during the night, theres only 6-8 Trains on the entire system at one time, so theres lots of time to clean the other cars. And track maintenence can be resolved by switching the train to the opposite track between stations while working on the other side. It's been done, even during rush hour last year! It was said that increased congestion and vehicle use is part of the greenhouse gas emission problem the Gordon Campbell provincial government promised to address last year. People work and party downtown during the night hours as well. Just because the Skytrain stops, doesn't mean the city does. Mr Campbell said that we need choice in transit, and I'm sure we would all like a choice on how we get home after work or the clubs rather than paying $60+ or driving drunk to get home at night. Theres no way they can get around my petition to keep Skytrain running 24 hours now, unless they just plain ignore it. You can find my petition on www.facebook.com under the group name "Petition to keep Skytrain running 24 Hours", or at malls and stores near the Skytrain route coming very soon. Over 20,000 people have signed already. I thank the public for their support. Now it's Translinks turn to listen to the public and show support for US!

good stuff:

Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Great discussion happening, too! Awesome stuff.