Posted Jul 26, 2024, 3:39 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 10,789
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Is there an election this year? 
Quote:
Metro Vancouver’s transit system is on the precipice of some of the steepest service cuts in its history, leaving entire communities without bus service and stranding the most vulnerable passengers, unless the provincial and federal governments step up with additional funding, according to a new report to be released today.
The “Report on Potential Transit Impacts” will land with a thud on the desks of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation this morning — as it will on the campaign trail in this fall’s provincial election, where the document seems intended to whip up a flurry of debate over transit funding.
“Due to the magnitude of the financial gap, transit reductions would be in the range of 45-50 per cent overall and include elimination of entire routes plus significant reductions in frequency and start/end times of service,” reads the report.
“This would include cancelling approximately 145 bus routes, significantly reducing SkyTrain, SeaBus and HandyDART service, and potentially eliminating the West Coast Express. Funding for walking, cycling, and roads programs would also be cut.”
TransLink says it is $600 million short in annual operating funding for 2026.
The current funding model is failing to keep up with inflationary pressures on the system, due to the fact fare increases are held artificially low to ensure affordability for passengers and fuel tax revenue is in decline as motorists switch to electric vehicles, reads the report.
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Quote:
The report proposes two alternatives for cuts to the region’s 230 current transit routes.
Under the first, TransLink would cut 45 per cent of bus service, focusing on the least productive routes first and saving those that have the highest ridership in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond and central Surrey.
“Much of the rest of the region would be left with little to no transit access – particularly in the Northeast, Langley, White Rock, South Delta, and much of the North Shore,” reads the report.
“Remaining routes would likely carry higher overall system ridership, given relatively higher service levels.”
In this scenario, 15 per cent of SeaBus service would be cut, ending service an hour earlier and reducing peak frequency on weekdays to 15 minutes. The Expo-Millennium SkyTrain line would see a 10-per-cent service cut, and the West Coast Express would drop from five to three round trips per day.
Under the second option, TransLink would cut bus service 50 per cent (in the process eliminating more than 65 per cent of its actual routes) with the aim to retain reduced service for as much of the region, geographically, as possible.
It would mean steeper cuts to SeaBus, at 30 per cent, bumping service to 30-minute windows outside of weekday peak time, a 30 per cent cut to Expo-Millennium SkyTrain service and the complete elimination of the West Coast Express train.
In both scenarios, HandyDART service for those with disabilities would be slashed 35 per cent and be limited to medical trips, cutting off most day programs, education trips and other service for those with mobility issues.
The report notes the bus service reductions hit lower-income people the hardest, as well as visible minorities, youth and seniors. The changes would mean as much as one-third of those residents no longer live within walking distance to transit, according to the report.
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https://www.biv.com/news/commentary/...couver-9266028
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- easy to guess what generation he was from.
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