Gregor Robertson becomes new chair of TransLink Mayors' Council
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When one of our editors saw the photo above, his first thought was that Mayor Gregor Robertson probably didn't want to stain his suit by getting too close to one of those buses.
In fact, the image was sent courtesy of the mayor's office to highlight Robertson's rise to chair of TransLink's Mayors' Council.
The woman on the left is Surrey mayor Linda Hepner, who's the new vice chair.
Each of them will be urging voters to approve a transit referendum that could bring new rapid-transit lines to Surrey and Vancouver.
Surrey wants light rail along 104 Avenue to Guildford, down King George Highway to Newton, and along Fraser Highway to Langley.
Robertson is pushing for a Broadway subway connection between VCC-Clark Station and Arbutus Street.
Comments
6 Comments
Steve y
Jan 16, 2015 at 2:18pm
wow another reason to vote no! Robertson has shown he is severely ethically challenged and with disallowing uber, shown he has no vision for the future of transportation in BC
Evil Eye
Jan 17, 2015 at 8:30am
Well Moonbeam and Hepner are now taking personal control of the YES side, but of course, they need the extra tax money for their gold plated vanity projects(which will not reduce congestion).
Big mistake, as voters outside of Vancouver regard Moonbeam as a typical Vancouver spoiled child, always wanting more and more and more and not sharing. Hepner and Surrey are regarded as Surrey losers that no one wants to be.
Sorry, the referendum, oops sorry plebiscite is going down to defeat, lost by political arrogance and hubris, as the YES side just can't tell the truth and the regional voters know that.
stuart
Jan 17, 2015 at 2:34pm
Gregor has no expertise on urban transportation. This is proved by the fact that he's pushing for an underground subway on Broadway. The best choice is an above-ground LRT system which can be built for 1/3 the cost. Above ground transportation will also save Broadway businesses from going bankrupt by keeping people near their businesses, rather than being under ground, out of sight and being totally inconvenient for shoppers to visit a street level business. Gregor is only backing the $3 Billion underground system because it raises the GDP of Vancouver, making him look good.
Stefan
Jan 18, 2015 at 7:25am
Remove street parking from Broadway and make it a 24 hr transit lane.
Same for other major arteries. Customers park in lane.
Problem solved.
DATA
Jan 18, 2015 at 1:08pm
Just for the record the following is real Financial Data including from Translink;
Translink wastes as follows;
- $171 plus Million for Fare Gates, this will never pay for itself even with 100% Fare collection,
- $15 plus million per year to operate the the Compass / Faregate system, this will never pay for itself even with 100% Fare collection,
- This does not include all the other waste.
Current Compass / Fare Gate system...
(a) Cannot Pay for itself,
(b) Can not provide additional revenues, in fact it puts an additional DEFICIT of $5 to $10 Million putting the Translink budget further into the RED!
You can see this Data from both Translinsk own Financials and analysis from other credible third parties.
From Translinks Financials itself Compass allocated Funds for 2014 as follows;
1. Administration - $about 80 Million, Compass - $11.4 Million,
2. Page 16 - Contracted Services - to Cubic (Compass Contractor) - $13.4 Million,
3. Salaries & Wages - $ (not broken down by Translink) but add at least $2.5 Million per year as an ultra conservative estimate.
This is what Translink said in the Compensation part of their Financial Report...
"...new positions related to the Compass Card and fare gates implementation, and merit and length - of -service increases."
Even if you just add # 1 & 2 above from Translinks own figures - $11.4 + $13.4 (Million) = $24.8 Million per year in operating Costs for Compass!!!
This is to Collect $7 to 8 Million in "Fare Evasion" mostly from the really poor.
Oh by the way this does NOT include Transit Police ($32.2 Million per year) or any other Salaries related directly to Compass!
Conservatively you are looking at between $30 and $40 Million are year to operate Compass!
Than after this they are going to try to push thru Road Tolls like parts of California.
Road Tolls are a bad thing for the average Citizen;
(i) It INCREASES the cost to go to work!,
(ii) it INCREASES the cost of Food (as most Food is transported via Road,
(iii) it provides ZERO incentive to be Efficient by Translink since there is a virtually unlimited supply of money via Road Tolls that can be spent like drunken Sailors.
Instead of Funding to Education or Health Care it goes to Translink.
Rick Scorsese
Feb 22, 2015 at 8:46am
Linda Hepner did not mention any tax increases during her campaign. Now she wants to tax the hell out of her constituents. This is a load of bull! She somehow has managed to add an additional $50,000 to her salary by being the vice chair of Translink. In addition, Translink is poorly managed by a bunch of money wasting senior management who should be removed and replaced by a competent management team. Also, an independent audit MUST be conducted as to how the tax payers money has been spent so far. Then, we will have a better strategy to improve transportation.
I say no to a 0.5 tax because Translink needs to be restructured first.
Rick Scorsese
Former Candidate for City Council