TransLink staff reports will return to the Web site

Earlier this year, TransLink "revamped" its Web site and deleted access to all of its staff reports dating back several years.

These reports dealt with such things as Canada Line ridership forecasts,  the  price of installing turnstyles, the growth of the TransLink police force,  and early predictions on the cost of the Golden Ears Bridge linking Pitt Meadows and Langley.

The disappearance of these staff reports hampered  the ability of journalists and transportation researchers  to dig into the archives and see what was said about major capital projects in the past.

When politicians would brag that the Canada Line or the Golden Ears Bridge came in on time and on budget, gullible media simply repeated these statements. They were  unaware of what TransLink's own staff had written several years earlier about forecasted capital costs.

These staff reports and consultants' reports  involved millions of dollars of work financed by property-tax payers, transit users, and motorists (through the TransLink fuel tax).

TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie has informed me that  these staff reports  will return to the transportation authority's Web site by December 15. This is good news for people who care about our transportation system.

However, this comes after the opening of the  Canada Line and the Golden Ears Bridge.

It comes after  regional transportation  commissioner Martin Crilly delivered an important report about TransLink's 10-year plan on August 31.

And it comes after comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland completed her review of transportation governance models for TransLink and B.C. Ferries.

The TransLink staff reports will return to the Web site after the CEO who  was ultimately responsible for this situation, Tom Prendergast, has quit and taken on a new job as the head of New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority.

What a coincidence.

Comments

5 Comments

Carolyn Zazubek

Nov 15, 2009 at 10:15am

The arrival and departure of Top Prendergast also coincides with the awarding of the HandyDart Service contract to an Americal for profit company, and the departure of the company's negotiating principles back to the US because they don't want a binding arbitration.

Eric Chris

Nov 15, 2009 at 4:21pm

Achtung, warning, I smell a rat at TransLink! TransLink's web site is a massive propaganda tool. The money spent on this web site, Ken Hardie and the rest of the misinformation team at TransLink costs tens of millions annually. For what, do we really need TransLink to tell us about how great it is when its fares are the highest in the country and its service is the lousiest in the country with diesel buses flooding our trolley bus routes to add insult to injury? The TransLink web site only needs to report bus schedules and fares such as the low key Seattle transit web site costing a fraction of what TransLink spends to maintain its glossy web site.

If you want to find out how TransLink is performing, you only need to refer to their annual report. TransLink relies on the indifference of most people who won’t question TransLink over its lies. TransLink lies over and over again about meeting its transit targets on the RAV Line when it is only transferring bus users to the RAV Line without generating any income from these transfers. It is a well known fact that, if you tell people the same thing over and over again, they start to believe it. Adolph Hitler did the same thing and TransLink must have studied Mein Kampf:

http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/
http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch06.html

Achtung!

Evil Eye

Nov 15, 2009 at 7:11pm

The damage has been done and TransLink's 1984 style of administration continues, with it's own patois of TransLink speak. All has been changed to make SkyTrain and RAV look good. George Orwell rules!

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Joesph Goebbels

Kelly Smith

Nov 15, 2009 at 9:05pm

hopefully, they'll also start updating the page with info about the mayor's council and board meetings. never up to date with upcoming meetings!

RodSmelser

Nov 16, 2009 at 10:21am

Re: Golden Ears Bridge

I am not aware of any delays in completing this project, but perhaps my memory is faulty.

On Saturday I had a shopping trip that would take me from Maple Ridge, where I live, to a shop in North Surrey on 152nd Street at 104th. I decided to drive south across the Golden Ears bridge, then return north on the Port Mann Bridge-Mary Hil Bypass-Pitt River Bridge route.

The trip south on the new tolled crossing took 19 minutes. The trip home was 22 minutes, but significantly there were no waits this particular Saturday afternoon to get onto the Port Mann at the 152nd Street overpass and on-ramp as there often are.

The three minutes saved came at a price of $3.30 in tolls. I guess if your time is worth more than $60 per hour, even on weekends, it's a good deal.

Rod Smelser