paulhillsdon.com

A problem is occurring on roads intended as long-haul links with other parts of the Province - such as the Trans Canada Highway between the Port Mann Bridge and Chilliwack. These roads are acting as conduits for urban sprawl and are increasingly losing their function for long-haul traffic. They are instead providing commuter capacity for outlying areas where there is affordable housing, but this is occurring through the pre-emption of long-haul transport capacity at the provincial taxpayer’s expense and that of the overall economy. Some roads (such as the King George Highway in Surrey, or the Lougheed Highway through Burnaby) have already reached the point where they have lost their original function and have been surrendered to local or intra-regional traffic. But it is not too late to protect critical sections (e.g. of the Trans Canada Highway) which lie outside the currently urbanized area. The proposed solution to this problem is to restrain tightly all single-occupant vehicles commuting from the valley towns (such as Langley, Abbotsford, Matsqui, Maple Ridge, Mission and Chilliwack) into the urban areas. Long-haul road capacity should be rationed by limiting access onto the inter-regional links, e.g. by:

• charging deterrent tolls at or near on-ramps at the valley towns, large enough to cut down demand; and/or
• restricting access through computerized, coordinated traffic lights at on-ramps; these would feed vehicles into the traffic flow at a rate which maintains travel speeds and prevents congestion from developing on the long-haul facility.

This approach represents a dramatic reversal of past practice, which would typically suggest a major widening of roads such as the Trans Canada Highway for mixed traffic, and improving interchanges to give better access to the rapidly growing valley towns.

Such an approach is also consistent with a policy of using transportation to help shape the target land-use plan, since it reduces in relative terms the accessibility of areas - the valley towns - which the growth management proposals suggest should follow a less-than-trend growth rate.

It is important to note that the proposed solutions will fail unless the change in supply policy is enunciated clearly, applied consistently for decades, and backed by parallel municipal land-use controls, acre-by-acre, in the valley towns.

- page 55 of the Long Range Transport 2021 Plan

Well the Premier had his speech today, giving a lot of explanation and information on how the Province will achieve the GHG targets set out early this year in the throne speech. There’s some great announcements and initiatives underway, which you can read about here. The one thing the Premier did not touch on was, surprisingly, considering all the rumours, transit. Federal Minister Stockwell Day gave $50 million to Translink for new buses, but that was about it. That’s not to say the funding for “major transit expansion” isn’t coming soon though. As Gordon Price mentioned, this was the earliest point an announcement would be made. And, going through the Province’s news releases, it even says:

“In the coming weeks, we will lay out our vision for transit,” said Campbell. “It will be on a scale and scope aimed at making our province a global leader in public transit. Today I can tell you we will also act to help communities across B.C. upgrade their bus fleets.”

Campbell confirmed that the Province will ensure the Evergreen Line is built as soon possible, connecting neighbourhoods in Coquitlam, Port Moody and Burnaby with SkyTrain.

“Today, the percentage of transit ridership in the Metro Vancouver region is about 12 per cent. The leading cities of the world, be they London, Paris or Hong Kong, see ridership in the 20 to 25 per cent range,” said Campbell.

It is interesting to note the press release states the province will be a “global leader” in transit, then compares out current situation to major world cities and their ridership. To me this says a truly major funding announcement, on the scope of Toronto’s Transit City plan, is coming for both Metro Vancouver, and perhaps for other rapid transit initiatives around the province, such as Victoria’s efforts for a rail network.

There’s also this piece [below] on the UBCM by Global where Keith Baldrey also notes that the Evergreen Line will go forward, with or without federal funding. He mentions that the Line is still going through the process of creating a business case, which is interesting considering one was completed last year, and is available from Translink’s site right here. Baldrey also speculates, although I’m not sure if he has concrete info or not, that the Evergreen Line will be done with SkyTrain technology.

So, no funding today, but it’s coming soon. Shucks. And here I was all hyped up like today was a Stevenote…

As many should know, Translink, officially the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, is a branch of the GVRD that controls transportation in the region. This all changes with the Translink overhaul, when, over time and with agreement by all new municipalities, their arms will apparently reach all the way from Whistler to Hope. I was messing around with some maps the other day, and the expansion is actually quite dramatic to see visually.

The blue is the GVRD, the red is the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, and the green is the Fraser Valley Regional District.

From the libertarian perspective, it’s not necessarily a good thing. Services are easier and better provided when done small and locally, generally speaking. With too many levels of bureaucracy, it’s hard for the average Joe to get his voice across. Arguably, is this respect, Translink is already a bit too big, as service in many places isn’t always prime.

However, with amalgamation, you get the supposed reduction in costs to provide these services, by eliminating any crossover between the multiple service provides (in this case, transit authorities).

So there’s pros and cons from a technical perspective. I do think it’s a good move though. Basically, it will enable Translink to pull in a much larger pot of cash, while they will only have to provide minimal services to these new communities. I mean, Chilliwack, pfft, what is that, three bus routes and a Community Shuttle, at max!? Based on my Transit Metropolis Vancouver, Translink could satisfy these new communities by basically building/extending commuter rail north from West Van up to Whistler, and east from Mission, through Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and to Hope. Translink would just have to build these lines to satisfy the public, and then not invest much more in these areas for a while. I mean, it’s not like Hope or Squamish are going to outgrow Vancouver or Surrey anytime in the near future. I personally believe it’s the one of the few good things coming from Kevin Falcon’s boneheaded move to privatize Translink.

It’s hard to see, but there’s purple line going out to Hope (West Coast Express extension), and a black line going north to Whistler.

Anybody else notice these recently? I’ve rode the SkyTrain a lot in the past few days, and on each hour long trip, the announcement was made. It consists basically of SkyTrain control beeping the cars to tell all passengers to please place their garbage in the trash cans at the stations.

Course, the first time I heard the beep, I was immediately annoyed, thinking “what’s wrong with the system this time”, after having been in a handful of service stops the past few months, including that one where the person died from being on the track.

Anyways, it immediately reminded me about Hong Kong’s metro. Apparently, from what I’ve been told, they make numeruous announcements on their system all the time, reminding passengers all sorts of things, including to not give money to the homeless near the stations. Don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what I’ve heard.

I’m not big on having SkyTrain control continuously beeping into the system all the time. I mean, it’s bad enough you can rarely hear it when they do, but don’t you think this will, over time, make passengers less intuned when it does happen for emergency purposes? Or, if this is going to become a regular thing, is this just a pilot project, before they go get the lady to officially record a spiel? Does this have to do with the free dailies that are left all over the trains nowadays, or is the Vancouver strike somehow involved with perhaps an influx of trash on the system?

In any case, I managed to get this okay recording of it the other day if you are interested. I feel like I should be writing this for Translinked or something ;)

I’ve always been something of a long distance commuter. Being in French Immersion, it was up to my parents to take me to the specific school, which was about 15-20 minutes away from home. This had a weird ripple effect on my early social life as well, simply because all my classmates also lived a far distance from the school. This reduced any out-of-school hang out time with my friends, at least compared to other kids who went to a school in their catchment area.

When my Dad moved out from Surrey to Burnaby, suddenly that 20 minute travel time doubled to 40+. Course, luckily, I was still being driven around everywhere. This did mean, though, that to make it in school in time for 8:40 am, I would wake up at 7. I got around a lot of the primping time in the morning by doing that the evening before, so I could sleep in longer.

Once I got a job, it created even more scheduling confusion between whether I would be at my Mom’s in Surrey, or my Dad’s in Burnaby. Thankfully, I could walk to work, and it only took about 7 minutes.

At the beginning of this year, I started regularly going to a youth group downtown. One of the issues around this was the days, and the times, it was held on… Wednesday afternoons, and Friday nights. In any case, it was connected to SkyTrain, and, by happenstance, my Dad lives by Metrotown.

As my social life developed, and I began to hang out more and more with these new friends, outside of the youth group, scheduling conflicts arose, and commute times become even more of an issue. And being somewhere who was grown up with worsening commute times you think I’d be used to it, but it’s beginning to reach a breaking point, especially as I now rely on transit to get me around, rather than my parent’s cars.

Now, I’m hopping between Cloverdale (Surrey), Burnaby, Downtown Vancouver, East Van, North Van, Richmond, and everywhere in between. I need to get around this region. I want to do it easily, and quickly. SkyTrain is great. It’s fast and convenient. Problem is, it doesn’t go everywhere I need it to.

I can’t handle 3 hours + commute times as I try to get from one end of the region to another. When you live in Cloverdale and have to get to the Horseshoe Bay ferry - you have no idea how annoying and stressful the trip is; especially if you are carrying a large backpack.

Frankly, I am thinking about buying a car. It’s sad and disappointing that I’ve had to even think about it. I never once in the last few years though I would ever possibly have one or have a need for one, but here I am.

This personal issue is really showing me a bigger picture. Imagine all the thousands of people who are students, immigrants, seniors, poor, or green: we rely on the transit system to get us places - and to get us there quickly!

As Mike Harcourt has said, let’s fix this damned half assed rapid transit system. I don’t care if you expand SkyTrain, or if it’s LRT, or if it’s even commuter rail. I don’t want some stupid bus. Get me around this region. Put the freakin’ money into it. And get it done now. Metro Vancouverites like me cannot wait another 30 years for rail to the Valley or to the North Shore. Let’s get this f**king mess fixed. I’m sick and tired of it.

I’ve been pondering the effect of parks on people for a bit. Parks are not only gathering places, but centres for recreation and a place to reconnect with nature. Perhaps, that’s why Vancouver’s initiative to have all residential areas “so-and-so” close to a park is so revolutionary. Such a policy truly understands how important parks are to people’s health and overall wellbeing.

While Danny Lyon, from the New York Times, may have mentioned it tongue in cheek, he’s got the right idea:

“#7. Ten percent of all city space shall be where you can “touch the dirt”. If there is not enough room, we can demolish the banks and turn them into fields of native grasses and flowers. One quarter of open space shall be for growing vegetables.”

We are already pioneers in saving agricultural lands, and if that policy survives, we won’t have to concern ourselves to heavily on it. However, Surrey, and other municipalities in Metro Vancouver, need to adopt Vancouver’s park policy. People need close access to parks. But let’s go beyond just patches of park surrounded by buildings. Let’s adopt a biotope policy.

Via wikipedia:

“…it is commonly emphasized that biotopes should not be isolated but be connected with each other because without connection to others, animals and plants there could not move out and biotopes would not effectively work as place for diverse organism to live. That is, one of the most effective strategies to regenerate biotope is to organize a stretch of biotope, not just a point so that animals and plants could come and go. (Such organic traffic course is called corridor.) In this method, the centre of the network would be large green tracts of land: a forest, a natural park, or a graveyard. By connecting them with smaller size those such as a green belt along the river, small parks in the town, apartment garden, or even roadside trees, the biotopes will work systematically. In other words, biotope is not closed but open system and practical strategy.”

You see why the biotope idea is so revolutionary as well? Animals, plants, people… they don’t just sit in an isolated park. They need to move around, and by providing these continuous connections to other parks, they can. That is why we need biotopes in the cities and across the region. The side effect of having biotopes is that we humans can have long, beautiful stretches of multi-use pathway through the biotopes, for recreation or transportation.

This is simply a policy of reserving lands and right-of-way. It’s a policy of working together with stakeholders to get the best situation for everyone, including nature. If Metro Vancouver is involved, perhaps municipalities can get financial aid for buying or retaining these green areas for biotope use. Germany has proven that it works - who will be the one to step up and bring it to Metro Vancouver? People need nature more than they think.

That is my prediction. It’s because that’s the way Campbell’s BC Liberals work. They are economy first; social services second. You’re already beginning to see it happening. Now that the economy is in full swing, and we’ve seen a series of provincial surpluses, the provincial government is ready to start putting funding back from where they once took: education, healthcare, the environment. Just look at the announcement several months ago about a huge expansion of social housing - that came from nowhere, all because the money is finally there.

As people love to point out, there’s no way we can meet the environmental reduction targets without seriously reducing our greenhouse gases, and considering transportation covers about 45% of our provincial emissions, that’s where drastic reductions are going to come from. You have to remember though that the end date for these goals is 2020. Just because they haven’t gotten into full gear with the plan so far, doesn’t mean they won’t start soon.

The Gateway project is a perfect example of the Liberals’ mentality. They are taking care of the major “economic” transport expansions projects now, so that they have the revenues to pay for and support transit and cycling expansion later down the line.

The Translink overhaul occuring in 2008… the completion of the Gateway project by 2010… the climate change intiative with reductions by 2020… the stranglehold on Evergreen Line funding… it all lines up too perfectly. That’s without mentioning how Translink will be putting together a new 30 year rapid transit plan over the next year, and how the Livable Region Strategic Plan will have to be rewritten or severely updated soon as well.

I can see it already. As soon as the new Translink is in place, they will complete a review of the current plans. The Evergreen Line may change to SkyTrain. Kevin Falcon will proudly announce during the groundbreaking of the Port Mann twinning how the Liberals will fund the Evergreen Line. And over the course of the next year, as Translink completes it’s 30 year vision, the Liberals will announce immediate funding to expand the Millennium Line, and to fast track rapid transit expansion south of the Fraser. They will also fund vast bus improvement and expansion plans, and new cycling routes.

It works, doesn’t it?! I can see it happening.

And it really doesn’t have to do with all the pressure people have been putting on the Liberals. They don’t actually give in. They fund the social services as they are able to - according to their way of running government. This is why the Port Mann will get twinned, regardless of what people say, and why it’s getting funded instead of transit expansion.

The only good thing about all the complaining people do is make sure their ideas get on the table. The louder the Valley is, the higher on the list of priorities rapid transit for their area will be. If they don’t make a peep, plans won’t get written up, nor will we ever get the money.

See, this is why it is essential the government knows what we want as a region. Because when 2008 rolls around, and they get to the finance department and decide how much they want to spend and where to spend it, they will be looking at what the people are demanding and what makes the most sense in terms of cost/benefit ratio - not only financially, but politically (and thus, how their announcements will be taken and/or spun in the media).

This is why the south of Fraser region needs to be united with rapid transit they want. Will they settle for BRT? Do they want SkyTrain or will LRT work? Where will the routes go - Fraser Hwy, King George, the Interurban line, 200th, etc.? We need to put our heads together on this and decide what exactly we want.

Vancouver already knows it’s demands: Millennium Line down Broadway to UBC, and funding for the Downtown Streetcar Initiative. The Tri-Cities want the Evergreen Line, but they may ask for it to be SkyTrain by the time it’s actually back on the table. There’s too many voices calling for too many things in the south of Fraser region.

Stay tuned for my Transit Metropolis Vancouver plan. I’ve already gotten several good reactions to it, and I truly think, out of all the suggestions for rapid transit lines in the region that I’ve heard of, this plan brings together the best ideas. If we need something to rally around, and I believe we do, this plan will be it.

UPDATE: I might’ve been closer to the truth that even I expected!

The past few days I’ve been riding the bus a lot during the evening rush. The one thing that stuck out to me was seeing a family of four kids, obviously immigrants, make their way onto the bus. Many times the children are just out of school and the parent, normally the Mom, is carrying some groceries.

Parallel this to a typical image I saw going to high school. A South Asian woman pull up in a huge SUV, sometimes even a Hummer, and try and pick up her kids at 2:45pm.

Immigrants continue to change the face of Canada. They are the sole reason our population is growing and our economy continues to flourish. Many times, they are treated poorly, or end up doing the jobs most “Canadians” refuse to. Of course, the situation here is nowhere near as bad as in the States, but that’s besides the point.

The fact is, when they come here, they come to make a living. People assimilate in different ways, but there’s a huge difference between those who come and ride the bus or their bicycles down the sidewalks (think old South Asian man) and those who purchase huge houses and Hummers. I think we need to be very careful of how some people are being indoctrinated into wanting “the American dream”, so to speak.

It also makes me think that perhaps our cities should learn a few things from their home countries. That more people should have access to safe routes to actually ride their bicycles places. That transit should be inviting and accessible to all types of people, from business men, to schoolkids, to families, to large visible minorities.

Some news in today about how investing in cycling in the UK will save that country money in the longterm by reducing healthcare costs and aid in combatting climate change.

The chairman of Cycling England, Phillip Darnton, said, “There are very few activities that tackle so many of the things that the government is concerned about, from health and obesity to government and pollution. An investment of £70m is small in terms of government spending, and this study shows that it will work.”

One intriguing way that Washington, D.C. is supporting the bicycle is by forcing developers to include bike parking in their buildings. This motion puts the “required parking spots” policy on a 360.

The proposal would require that all apartment buildings with more than eight units set aside one bicycle parking space for every four residential units. Commercial landlords would have to provide enough bicycle parking to match at least 10 percent of the number of available automobile spaces.

These are the types of policy moves that cities around the Metro Vancouver region should be pushing for. Cities have a lot of power, and politicians need to start being bold and making the proper steps, for the betterment of all citizens.