Lawrence Frank: Four ways to fix transit in Metro Vancouver
With Metro Vancouver’s population expected to double by 2040—and a crucial transit referendum planned next year—now is the time to take a serious look at the future of mass transit in the region. Here are four ways to improve a maxed-out transit system and promote sustainable development.
1. Adopt performance-based transit funding
What is an objective way to decide which transit projects to fund? In the Lower Mainland, for example, do you decide between an overloaded urban core like the UBC-Broadway corridor or a growing area like Surrey? One way to make these decisions more equitable is to tie transit funding to cities’ performance at developing their land according to Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Plan. This helps take the politics out of the decision, and replaces it with greater objectivity. It also creates more of an incentive for municipalities to develop sustainably.
2. Embrace user fees to fund sustainable growth
With Metro Vancouver’s population expected to double in less than three decades, the only way the region can grow in a sustainable manner is if cities, developers, and citizens pay the full cost of their sustainability decisions. We need to embrace certain user fees to guide behaviour and pay for transportation upgrades. This includes higher development fees on projects that are low density or located far away from existing transit and services. It also means tolling roadways strategically. Otherwise, you are encouraging urban sprawl by making it the cheaper option.
3. Factor health and economic benefits into transit decisions
We need to do a better job of calculating the health and economic benefits of potential transit projects into the decision-making process. Studies show that transit investments can be cost-effective ways to increase economic growth and reduce health care costs, which are eating up government budgets. These benefits can help offset project costs over the long term. Failing to take such long-term benefits into account can cause us to overstate the cost of projects.
Good transit creates healthy populations. It promotes moderate physical exercise and reduces chronic illnesses from pollution and sedentary lifestyles, generating health care savings. On the economic side, cites like San Diego, London, and Toronto created impressive growth and innovation by linking their top universities with industry (health, technology, business, banks) via transit. A recent KPMG study finds that the UBC-Broadway corridor has the potential for such a connection, but is missing high-capacity rapid transit.
4. Delaying transit improvements has a steep price
The belief that delaying transit investments saves us money is a huge misconception. Dragging our feet only makes projects more expensive and harder to implement. Why? Because as population growth continues, taxpayer dollars will go to support entrenched, unsustainable patterns, and the opportunity to benefit from new projects will be diminished.
Comments
26 Comments
Everyone should pay but me.
Nov 14, 2013 at 4:52pm
"We need to embrace certain user fees to guide behavior and pay for transportation upgrades"
Certain fees? As in fees you and your supporters don't pay but others do? I always like how socialists conveniently excuse themselves from ever contributing anything financially to their pet projects. It's so critical everyone must contribute but you. It's makes it hard to take you seriously.
Mr jim 374
Nov 14, 2013 at 6:29pm
It is always academics from point grey who suggest punishing blue/ pink collar people from the suburbs and eastern valley with tolls and mileage fees. Guess what professor? People live in these areas because they cant afford to live closer to the downtown core , so we should put tolls and fees on them so they cant afford in the valley either? Maybe they should move to merrit
Hazlit
Nov 14, 2013 at 9:10pm
All the professor is saying is that there is NO free lunch for pink/blue collar suburban capitalists. You want a subway? You gotta pay for it.
—The Happy Socialist
Markham
Nov 14, 2013 at 11:08pm
Yo GS, you need to get a new photo to run with all the transit related articles. This one is one of the saddest looking trains in the fleet. :(
Seth Dixon
Nov 14, 2013 at 11:20pm
Lawrence Frank could not be more off the mark with this nonsensical rant. We are taxed way too much already, and bridge tolls are just causing people to go to routes that are not tolled causing more congestion. And how about the Sea to Sky tolls that were supposed to be implemented when it was finished for the Olympics? Magically that didn't happen because Vancouver lost its mind so you want to transfer that cost to the suburbs? Your hypocrisy is showing Lawrence. What we need is the dismantling of Translink in favor of an organization that knows what it is doing. Translink botches everything it touches, especially tax dollars which it grossly mishandles.
anonymous
Nov 15, 2013 at 12:49am
The Bank of Canada was set up for fund infrastructure projects like this but you'll have to ask the politicians why they are not using the BOC and why they borrow money from private banks at higher interest rates instead.
Just say no to road tolls for transit. Say yes to Bank of Canada funding for all infrastructure projects.
ivory tower day-dreams
Nov 15, 2013 at 1:14am
1. I'll believe that when I see it (or pigs fly)... take politics out of decision making? hahaha
2. taxes - wow, what a novel idea.
3. sounds specious. I take transit, wait in the cold, ride with sick people. its not the gym and, I believe, inefficient as an exercise option.
4. only efficient if you're implementing the right solution. e.g. you think moving quickly with the new fair gate system - that will never pay for itself - is progressive?
Judi Leger
Nov 15, 2013 at 6:33am
Once again we're told how there must be rapid transit to UBC. If a 99BLine rider is left standing, they wait 3 or 4 minutes. If a rider south of the Fraser is left standing, they wait 10 minutes to an hour. The 319 from Scott Road station, one of the more functional routes, constantly leaves a bus full of people behind in the afternoon rush hour. The Tri Cities have been waiting for their sky train since 1986, while other lines were built instead. VCC Clark...seriously?
Alay Layton
Nov 15, 2013 at 8:18am
This is only remotely related to transit but did everyone see that Bixi Bikes is in financial trouble and the bike sharing program in Vancouver has been put on hold? One of our more intelligent commenters said this a few months ago. The only places that this type of program works is ones where evil corporations have donated millions of dollars to keep them running, in exchange for advertising of course. I'm surprised that it hasn't been reported in The Straight yet.
WTF
Nov 15, 2013 at 8:51am
Translink needs Accountability & Improvement.
UBC needs to be tolled for it's heavy use of Translink :)
Road Tolls are a Tax grab with little to no accountability.
These are some of the Translinks more glaring waste & mismanagement...
1. $171+++ Million on Fare Gates to catch less than 3% in Fare evasion (most of these are Poor or Homeless who can never pay) does not make ANY Economic sense,
2. $15 Million ++ per year to run the Fare Gates & Compass = Gross Waste,
3. $1 Million per Bus time for Global Competitive Tenders to bring that price Down!
4. $171 Million wasted on Fare Gates would have bought a lot of new capacity for Buses even at the overpriced $1 Million per Bus,
5. Executive Pay & Benefits Eliminate them,
6. Useless Green Jacket Sub-Contractors who have no power to even issue Tickets at $10's of Millions per year eliminate them save $$$$
7. $50 ++ Million for a private police force is a waste local Police can and do respond to emergencies on Translink property.
As well these Officers if part of a regular Police force could be more effective at fighting Crime in general.
8. Eliminate the C level Management and Board have the Operational Managers report directly to the Minister for Transportation,
9. Look at the Washington State Ferry System and how it's managed cost effectively as a model to start to reform Translink,
10. Bring direct Accountability to Translink,
Road Tolls are a very Bad Idea it will increase the Cost of Living for the average Citizen including increasing the Costs of Food as most of it is transported by Truck.
Not to mention Translink has zero accountability giving them more money without accountability and efficiency is like giving Ford more Crack a very bad idea.