Translink riders jammed on B-Line buses or Canada Line cars, particularly students enjoying the benefits of the new U-Pass program, should mark October 7 on their calendar.
That’s the day Mayor Gregor Robertson and the rest of Metro Vancouver’s Mayors must vote on a new funding supplement for Translink that will bring more bus service and Skytrain station expansion to Vancouver starting next year.
Robertson has been working hard to win more bus and transit service.
Much of this service will be directed to support the growing ridership relying on the new universal U-Pass. Winning that U-Pass was a major commitment Robertson made in his 2008 campaign and the provincial government delivered this year.
But transit expansion stalled in 2010 when Victoria tried to place the whole burden of new funding on property tax. The new plan includes a gas tax increase.
Without that new funding, riders would pay a 13 per cent fare increase next year but see no service increase. Delays, breakdowns and pass-bys would just get worse.
Robertson and Vision Vancouver are committed to working hard with other municipalities to win regional improvements to help transit riders and the city economy.
That’s why we favour consideration of a streetcar proposal developed by Translink that would connect VCC Clark station and the new Emily Carr University campus on Great Northern Way with False Creek and the Arbutus Corridor.
That streetcar – not the beautiful but costly and unfunded plan promoted by the NPA around False Creek – might actually get built in our lifetime.
Robertson has led the way to find a long-term funding solution by proposing that the carbon tax be allocated to rapid transit.
A positive vote on October 7 would not only open the door to immediate improvements in Vancouver bus service, it would pave the way for future construction of rapid transit on the Broadway Corridor, where buses already carry as many riders as the Millennium Line.
Transit investment is crucial for Vancouver to grow and prosper as a green city where everyone is able to get around.
