Heavy Rail, Commuter Rail, & Intercity Transportation

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Great - if it's in the planning stage, can you share a link to it? (Daily Hive speculation doesn't count).

I did say "Feasibility Study", which is part of planning stage.

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022PREM0061-001374
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/trans...nland/fraser-valley-transportation-study

No Dailyhive speculation for you: straight up to the very top.

[GenWhy?]

That study has been going on for over 2 years by now and I hope to God the conclude in 2023.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

That study has been going on for over 2 years by now and I hope to God the conclude in 2023.

Well, let's see. The rather vague feasibility study was announced in August 2020. There was a Provincial Election in October 2020. The NDP made gains in the Fraser Valley, taking four ridings that previously leaned Liberal. Since then.............................................

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Well, let's see. The rather vague feasibility study was announced in August 2020. There was a Provincial Election in October 2020. The NDP made gains in the Fraser Valley, taking four ridings that previously leaned Liberal. Since then.............................................

I'm sustaining my positivity. It's all I got.

[EMD710]

I am finding that there are more and more cars on the road than ever before. Not junkers but new and pricy ones to boot. People love their cars and the price of gas doesn't seem to deter the amount of cars on the road. The lowermainland is a car driven system.

For rail and bus to complete with the car crowd, it would have to offer a better bang for the buck. In tiny countries like Japan with a large population, rail and bus are kings. Personally I have no desire to use mass transit unless it will take me to a certain destination that using a car to get there would be a frustrating nightmare like going downtown. To save gas money, I just reduce my pleasure trips so I can afford to drive to work and other necessary places.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

i know for me, personally. taking my car to the office 1/2 the time with a V8 from the 90s, is cheaper in gas than a monthly, 2-zone bus pass. i wont be getting rid of my car ever as i go a lot of places with it and need that freedom to enjoy life; so other costs are negligible. but i also wont be using transit since its literally cheaper to use my car. and my hours of work mean i miss the usual rush-hour commuters. its both a short commute & a cheaper commute. and i have what would be classified as a gas guzzler that requires premium fuel. so if my premium gas guzzling 90s V8 is still cheaper than a 2-zone monthly bus pass, then i can only imagine people with E-Cars or more fuel efficient, smaller engine cars must really be saving money.

not going into work 5days/week is a big change for a lot of people. i don't think that the pre-pandemic equation is the same as the post-pandemic equation, because it isn't for me or a few people i work with who are in the same boat as me.


*this doesn't include the benefit of not worrying about vagrants on transit, or the comfort given for being in my own, comfy car*

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by EMD710

I am finding that there are more and more cars on the road than ever before. Not junkers but new and pricy ones to boot. People love their cars and the price of gas doesn't seem to deter the amount of cars on the road. The lowermainland is a car driven system.

For rail and bus to complete with the car crowd, it would have to offer a better bang for the buck. In tiny countries like Japan with a large population, rail and bus are kings. Personally I have no desire to use mass transit unless it will take me to a certain destination that using a car to get there would be a frustrating nightmare like going downtown. To save gas money, I just reduce my pleasure trips so I can afford to drive to work and other necessary places.

On a whole, Canada is that way.
It is not that people love their cars, but it is that they need their cars. There will be a point where gas is too expensive and people that can will start using transit.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

On a whole, Canada is that way.
It is not that people love their cars, but it is that they need their cars. There will be a point where gas is too expensive and people that can will start using transit.

Or they could just give discounts for people who use transit a lot. I lived in Sydney Australia for a while and once you take 8 transit trips a week then you get half off fares for the rest of the week. If you wanna encourage people to take transit more often, keep them loyal with loyalty programs.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

Or they could just give discounts for people who use transit a lot. I lived in Sydney Australia for a while and once you take 8 transit trips a week then you get half off fares for the rest of the week. If you wanna encourage people to take transit more often, keep them loyal with loyalty programs.

Most monthly passes work out to be cheaper than the daily round trip cost.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Most monthly passes work out to be cheaper than the daily round trip cost.

The thresholds where it becomes cheaper to get monthly passes are:

42 trips per month for one zone
38 trips per month for two zone
40 trips per month for three zone

This is assuming they are travelling the maximum zones covered by their fare pass

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

The thresholds where it becomes cheaper to get monthly passes are:

42 trips per month for one zone
38 trips per month for two zone
40 trips per month for three zone

This is assuming they are travelling the maximum zones covered by their fare pass

Someone doing a round trip 5 days a week should see a savings on the pass. Quick math, if those are one way, then you only break even. Translink should change that. Unless it is artificially high to deter higher ridership.

The TTC in Toronto only has 1 fare zone.
Single fare is $3.25
Monthly pass is $156, or $143 if you sign up for a 12 contract.
It works out to 48 trips or 44.

Locally, my transit equals to 20 trips with the monthly pass.

I wonder if the larger cities are purposely making things more expensive to reduce congestion on their system.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

I wonder if the larger cities are purposely making things more expensive to reduce congestion on their system.

You'd think they would want some level of congestion on their system so they can have more leverage to hound the government for more funding, right?

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

You'd think they would want some level of congestion on their system so they can have more leverage to hound the government for more funding, right?

Yes and no.
They need a certain level of congestion to show they are worth keeping, but not so much that it is constantly at crush load. I feel they have bean counters that will look at ridership and fares and set them at a price where the congestion is at an acceptable level.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Yes and no.
They need a certain level of congestion to show they are worth keeping, but not so much that it is constantly at crush load. I feel they have bean counters that will look at ridership and fares and set them at a price where the congestion is at an acceptable level.

Large systems also have the advantage that they're quite useful, so long as they're cheaper than alternatives, people will use them. The calculation more has to do with diminishing returns from attracting new riders with cheaper passes (most current non-riders aren't not riding because of the cost, it's other factors) versus lost revenue from established riders who will pay the slightly higher pass price.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Well, let's see. The rather vague feasibility study was announced in August 2020. There was a Provincial Election in October 2020. The NDP made gains in the Fraser Valley, taking four ridings that previously leaned Liberal. Since then.............................................

If nothing comes out of this, you are agreeing with the rest of us that this NDP government 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵. Empty promises made as usual.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by Vin

If nothing comes out of this, you are agreeing with the rest of us that this NDP government 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵. Empty promises made as usual.

Would be surprised if it found anything different from the last report where it has 80% or greater of each Valley community's travel destination beginning and ending in that same community.

[Migrant_Coconut]

More likely, the NDP realizes how stupid an interurban passenger train would be and is spending the bare minimum necessary to stop the vocal super-minority from whining any louder. A Lib or Green administration would do the same.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

More likely, the NDP realizes how stupid an interurban passenger train would be and is spending the bare minimum necessary to stop the vocal super-minority from whining any louder. A Lib or Green administration would do the same.

Then why start the process in the first place: too much money to burn?

[GenWhy?]

"The projected 2031 annual ridership for the entire inter-urban line of 1 million passengers (most of which is between Langley and Surrey) would be comparable to the projected ridership for an all day, frequent express bus service operating in a priority lane on Highway 1 between Abbotsford and North Langley-Surrey. In this regard, the ridership for the inter-urban line would be less than 5% of the entire projected transit ridership for the Fraser Valley. " (page 22)

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/drivin...rategic_review_fraser_valley_summary.pdf

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Vin

Then why start the process in the first place: too much money to burn?

BC's contribution to the third Cascadia HSR Study was $300k. 3/10ths of a million CAD is nickels and dimes for Victoria.