Quote:
Originally Posted by nds88
So where does Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris, London, Seoul get their transit money from? When I was in Moscow and Beijing, their transit was like under $1 to ride. They have phenomenal subways and they are both "developing" countries. Yes, Russia can get their S#$% together to get a subway built and we can't. And this was not done years ago, they are still building out new lines today. Yes, these cities have way more people, but they also have higher expenses too. Russia is a low tax country (my friend lived there for 15 years and is still considered a resident), and he pays way less taxes as a percentage of income. Hong Kong also does not tax, or taxes very low, income.
Tokyo can build massive multiple city block sized underground stops with literally hundreds of exits so pedestrians can get to specific buildings without holding up traffic by crossing the street. We can barely get two exits out of the Canada Line.
Shanghai was a swamp land in the 90s. Their first line opened in 93 and in less than 25 years they have over 17 lines. It looks like in the last 10-12 years was when the bulk of the lines were added.
Why can we not do stuff under budget and ahead of schedule?
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We actually do build SkyTrain under budget and ahead of schedule... when we finally have enough funding for a budget and schedule. The problem is that Western Canada is the new kid on the block when it comes to building transit.
Moscow and Paris and London got started all the way back when the Queen's dad and grandad were around. The People's Republic of China is able to pay their construction workers $600 a month without any repercussion. Greater Tokyo has
Canada's entire population packed into an area the size of Connecticut, and Seoul nearly has the same. If this were an Avengers movie, Vancouver would be Hawkeye.
Now, what's interesting about Hong Kong is that the MTA Corporation is able to directly redevelop properties that it buys and sells - that accounts for a lot of its non-farebox profit. We might want to convince Victoria to grant TransLink the same authority.
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