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8 Billion dollar rail Van to Abby/Whack


kingofsurrey

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17 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

8 Billion dollar rail  Van to  Abby/Whack

 

Now we are talking....

 

 

Borrow $8 billion for Fraser Valley rail link, Abbotsford mayor urges province

 

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All Abbotsford’s mayor wants from the provincial government is up to $8 billion for transportation in the Fraser Valley.

That sum sounds like a lot of money because, again, it’s $8 billion. But Mayor Henry Braun told council Monday that he thinks a rapid transit link to Abbotsford is (relatively) affordable and can be done if the province is as ambitious as a pair of legendary British Columbia politicians.

“WAC Bennett and Phil Gaglardi were some people who made some bold moves. I think the present provincial government needs to make some bold moves and one of them would be commuter rail,” Braun said after a council discussion on feedback that Abbotsford will send to TransLink as that body shapes its plans for the next 30 years.

 

https://www.abbynews.com/news/borrow-8-billion-for-fraser-valley-rail-link-abbotsford-mayor-urges-province/

Fine, providing the fares are high enough to pay the debt principal and interest completely off in 30 years.  Plus, put the tolls back on the bridges so people will use the new rail line.  

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Meanwhile in Europe you have towns with 60 thousand people in them that have train systems.

We need huge changes in transporting mass amounts of people, before it's to late and the destruction of global warming is as predicted totally upon us.

Out with cars except electric and fast speed trains etc. finally come to North America,just like the bigger cities of the world.We have train tracks in place that are rusting away from non use,smarten up politicians.

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23 minutes ago, DADDYROCK said:

Meanwhile in Europe you have towns with 60 thousand people in them that have train systems.

We need huge changes in transporting mass amounts of people, before it's to late and the destruction of global warming is as predicted totally upon us.

Out with cars except electric and fast speed trains etc. finally come to North America,just like the bigger cities of the world.We have train tracks in place that are rusting away from non use,smarten up politicians.

It's a completely different place. You can't say 'look at Japan or Europe why can't we do that'. The vast majority of North America was planned intentionally around cars. You can't just retrofit that overnight. 

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2 hours ago, inane said:

It's a completely different place. You can't say 'look at Japan or Europe why can't we do that'. The vast majority of North America was planned intentionally around cars. You can't just retrofit that overnight. 

Sometimes you have to plan 50+ years out and to think, "If you build it, they will come".  People initially though the Shinkansen was a stupid idea too.

 

Building a station to a lower density area seems like poor planning, but once apartments are built around there, a few commercial buildings, then a school or something... you'll have a thriving ecosystem around that station.  I mean the stations around Nanaimo, 29th, Joyce, Patterson probably seemed like stupid ideas at the time in the 80's... but they're slowly having more and more people moving there.  

I remember when Joyce had like 2-3 apartment buildings... now there are a couple of dozens, a few more office buildings, more restaurants, etc.  

Brentwood used to be pretty slow.... now they have a huge mall there and many other mixed use towers.  

 

If you want to break the dependency on cars, you need to give people a reason not to have cars.  Having affordable homes with good access to reliable transit would be a good start.  The best form reliable transit are the subways.  

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52 minutes ago, Lancaster said:

Sometimes you have to plan 50+ years out and to think, "If you build it, they will come".  People initially though the Shinkansen was a stupid idea too.

 

Building a station to a lower density area seems like poor planning, but once apartments are built around there, a few commercial buildings, then a school or something... you'll have a thriving ecosystem around that station.  I mean the stations around Nanaimo, 29th, Joyce, Patterson probably seemed like stupid ideas at the time in the 80's... but they're slowly having more and more people moving there.  

I remember when Joyce had like 2-3 apartment buildings... now there are a couple of dozens, a few more office buildings, more restaurants, etc.  

Brentwood used to be pretty slow.... now they have a huge mall there and many other mixed use towers.  

 

If you want to break the dependency on cars, you need to give people a reason not to have cars.  Having affordable homes with good access to reliable transit would be a good start.  The best form reliable transit are the subways.  

Breaking the dependency on cars means stop sprawling to places like Abbotsford. There's such a massive disconnect between what people think they want and what they actually are willing to tolerate/live with. Europe and Japan etc work because they are compact. We can't keep eating up every square inch of metro vancouver and the fraser valley with cul de sacs are car oriented suburbs while simultaneously demanding better transit. 

 

 Not to mention climate change, food security, habitat protection, etc etc etc. We are constantly shooting ourselves in the foot because we just can't square the circle that we love transit but we love suv's and cul de sacs and big houses. 

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20 minutes ago, inane said:

Breaking the dependency on cars means stop sprawling to places like Abbotsford. There's such a massive disconnect between what people think they want and what they actually are willing to tolerate/live with. Europe and Japan etc work because they are compact. We can't keep eating up every square inch of metro vancouver and the fraser valley with cul de sacs are car oriented suburbs while simultaneously demanding better transit. 

 

 Not to mention climate change, food security, habitat protection, etc etc etc. We are constantly shooting ourselves in the foot because we just can't square the circle that we love transit but we love suv's and cul de sacs and big houses. 

I totally agree, but you have to encourage higher density, not just buy shoving people into shoeboxes and expect them to be thankful and happy.  It's about mobility and accessibility.  

You extend the skytrain beyond Richmond and suddenly the Massey Tunnel replacement won't be demanded as much.  Expand the skytrain past Surrey and it's guaranteed that the traffic will decrease.  If somehow the transit system can be set up to connect Abbotsford, Chilliwack, etc... way less cars will be clogging up the #1 highway.  

 

Using Japan as a comparison... majority of my family/friends do have houses there, usually bigger than my "Vancouver Special" and most also have a car as well.  Just their vehicles are more for weekend trips or for work purposes.  Having a car and bigger homes isn't mutually exclusive to population density and better transit infrastructures.  Just gotta build smarter.  

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Just now, Lancaster said:

I totally agree, but you have to encourage higher density, not just buy shoving people into shoeboxes and expect them to be thankful and happy.  It's about mobility and accessibility.  

You extend the skytrain beyond Richmond and suddenly the Massey Tunnel replacement won't be demanded as much.  Expand the skytrain past Surrey and it's guaranteed that the traffic will decrease.  If somehow the transit system can be set up to connect Abbotsford, Chilliwack, etc... way less cars will be clogging up the #1 highway.  

 

Using Japan as a comparison... of my family/friends do have houses there, usually bigger than my "Vancouver Special" and most also have a car as well.  Just their vehicles are more for weekend trips or for work purposes.  Having a car and bigger homes isn't mutually exclusive to population density and better transit infrastructures.  Just gotta build smarter.  

This issue is very complex but 'shoving them in shoeboxes' is part of the issue. there's this north american mythology around owning land and a white picket fence with dog and 2.5 kids etc.... that's not reality but that's the dream. so we move further and further afar to achieve that dream but expect to be able to enjoy all the amenities of an urban environment.

 

I'm onboard with massive transit expansion. We should have a subway to the north shore, UBC, Guildford/Newton/Langley and more. We should have LRT where appropriate. Trains like the west coast express to abbotsford, white rock, etc...We should hundreds of km's of separated bike lanes. Bus only lanes everywhere. Etc etc etc. 

 

But to support that you density and we need to give up that 'single family house' dream to make that reality. There is something between the 5 bedroom stand alone house and a 'shoebox'. That's what we need.

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3 minutes ago, inane said:

This issue is very complex but 'shoving them in shoeboxes' is part of the issue. there's this north american mythology around owning land and a white picket fence with dog and 2.5 kids etc.... that's not reality but that's the dream. so we move further and further afar to achieve that dream but expect to be able to enjoy all the amenities of an urban environment.

 

I'm onboard with massive transit expansion. We should have a subway to the north shore, UBC, Guildford/Newton/Langley and more. We should have LRT where appropriate. Trains like the west coast express to abbotsford, white rock, etc...We should hundreds of km's of separated bike lanes. Bus only lanes everywhere. Etc etc etc. 

 

But to support that you density and we need to give up that 'single family house' dream to make that reality. There is something between the 5 bedroom stand alone house and a 'shoebox'. That's what we need.

Nothing wrong with a single family home.... but to have a separated garage plus a huge lawn.... that's somewhat excessive.

Once again referring back to Japan (using my in-laws as an example), they have a pretty huge home, but it's 3 floors, with the roof as a patio.  A lawn isn't required as there are sufficient park spaces nearby and if you want to do a BBQ with family/friends... you have the rooftop patio.  The garage is within the housing structure.  

Very roomy (5BR, 2.5BR), but compact.  Solar panels and tankless hot water for greater energy efficiency.  It's pretty much the average house in Osaka.  

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Lancaster said:

Nothing wrong with a single family home.... but to have a separated garage plus a huge lawn.... that's somewhat excessive.

Once again referring back to Japan (using my in-laws as an example), they have a pretty huge home, but it's 3 floors, with the roof as a patio.  A lawn isn't required as there are sufficient park spaces nearby and if you want to do a BBQ with family/friends... you have the rooftop patio.  The garage is within the housing structure.  

Very roomy (5BR, 2.5BR), but compact.  Solar panels and tankless hot water for greater energy efficiency.  It's pretty much the average house in Osaka.  

 

 

Right, when I say single family home I mean typical north american cul de sac type home. We are building hundreds if not thousands of those every year. 


Yes, rowhouses that are freehold or stacked townhouses or a myriad of other types of housing are the solution, including some towers. That's what brings diversity in housing and pricing. 

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In 1910 an interurban rail link between Chilliwack and Vancouver was established. It ran electric cars until the 1950's. In 1910 it took about 2 hours 45 minutes to go from Vancouver to downtown Chilliwack. The late afternoon train out of Chilliwack was the milk run, where local farmers loaded milk aboard the train for delivery to Vancouver area dairies like Avalon. The rail bed is still there and belongs to the Southern Railway of BC but the provincial government retains the right to re-introduce passenger service whenever it sees fit. With the explosive residential growth in the Fraser Valley, a reintroduction of interurban service seems more viable, even if the cost is prohibitive. 

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