kurtzfan Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I would actually report that to Translink's complaint line....believe it or not, they do take these types of complaints quite seriously - especially in your situation. And if it's really that important to you, you could always call up Global BC. If he call up Global BC, he will be on the television. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 If he call up Global BC, he will be on the television. lol well like I said, if the whole issue is really that important to him..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 (edited) Vehicle levy possible: Falcon Published: October 25, 2008 10:00 AM - Transportation minister Kevin Falcon won’t impose region-wide road or bridge tolling to finance TransLink’s expansion, but says he may support a vehicle levy. Those options top TransLink’s wishlist of new revenue sources, in addition to expected increases to fuel and property taxes, fares and new profits from real estate development. A TransLink report obtained by Black Press estimates an annual vehicle fee that averaged $100 per vehicle would raise $140 million per year. It suggests the levy could be sweetened by giving those who pay it a universal transit pass that would act as “a value proposition.” (basically, a U-Pass for everyone!) Falcon said that concept makes sense because it offers a payback to motorists who must pay the fee and could encourage more people to try transit. “Drivers would be given an opportunity to utilize the dramatically improved transit system,” he said. “You have to give people something more than just saying we’re going to ding you dollars for our transportation system, thank you very much.” Falcon predicted the offer of a free annual transit pass would help win public acceptance, and said he would be “open to supporting” a levy on that basis. TransLink plans to launch public consultations in the months ahead on a number of potential ways to generate an extra $300 to $500 million per year to carry out aggressive transit upgrades, on which the province’s climate change goals depend. The authority has been chronically underfunded in part because a past TransLink attempt to collect a $75 vehicle levy in 2000 enraged the public and was quashed by the then-NDP government. Falcon predicts things will be different this time. He said the old vehicle levy was “just a cash grab to fund an organization that I don’t think had a clear and compelling vision of what they were going to deliver in terms of benefits.” The new-and-improved TransLink, he said, has a professional board, is well run and has a clear vision that includes three major new SkyTrain lines or extensions and a doubling of the current bus fleet to vastly improve service. The annual vehicle fee might be a flat $100 or it could vary based on how far people drive each year or the fuel efficiency of their vehicle, the TransLink report suggests. It also says road-user fees in the form of electronic tolls could pull in significant revenue, influence transportation behaviour and “reduce congestion to free up road space for high-priority users.” But Falcon rules out that measure for the foreseeable future. “That’s not going to be on the table,” he said. “We are not going to have regional or congestion tolling or whatever you want to call it until such time as there is a first-rate public transit system in place.” TransLink is also eyeing the Property Transfer Tax, which hands Victoria a slice of money off real estate transactions in the province. The real estate tax has ballooned to the point it rakes in $1 billion a year (although that is expected to slide along with the real estate slowdown) – $375 million of that from within Metro Vancouver. Falcon said TransLink would have to pursue accessing those funds with finance minister Colin Hansen, who he predicted would “take a dim view” of the idea. Beyond that, he said, the region and its taxpayers will have to pay their share and not bank on a bailout from Victoria. “The region is obviously going to have to do their part,” he said. “You don’t get something for nothing.” Any tax hikes or new revenue streams need approval from the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation and Falcon said those mayors will have to decide whether the improvements TransLink plans are worth the money. “Ultimately the mayors will decide how ambitious they want to be and what kind of transit service they want to have,” he said. Some mayors have called TransLink insolvent, arguing more money from provincial or federal sources is needed. Many mayors also say they have been set up by Falcon as a scapegoat for unpopular new fees if they’re approved or anything else that goes wrong. Falcon said the region will benefit tremendously from the province’s new $14-billion Provincial Transit Plan. “Leadership means being honest with the public and saying there’s a cost associated with it,” he said. “If they don’t support it they need to say to the public, ‘I don’t support it and I don’t want to have the population pay for those increased services.’ “And that’s a legitimate position to take. But they’ll have to defend it. I will be a strong advocate saying we need to do this.” Edited October 27, 2008 by nitronuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtzfan Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 nitronuts, In HK, before the Disneyland opened, the minority got free admission. Do you think the Translink can do the same thing before the Canada line opens? (e.g. letting the Aboriginal people taking a ride from the Brighouse station to the Waterfront station.) It is just a suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus Alexander Cody Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 B7417 is the first and only bus in Translink's fleet that has the electronic ad display: "> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 nitronuts, In HK, before the Disneyland opened, the minority got free admission. Do you think the Translink can do the same thing before the Canada line opens? (e.g. letting the Aboriginal people taking a ride from the Brighouse station to the Waterfront station.) It is just a suggestion. Some are more equal than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 nitronuts, In HK, before the Disneyland opened, the minority got free admission. Do you think the Translink can do the same thing before the Canada line opens? (e.g. letting the Aboriginal people taking a ride from the Brighouse station to the Waterfront station.) It is just a suggestion. Terrible idea.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtzfan Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Terrible idea.... why is it a terrible idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 (edited) ^ why should a group of individuals be more important than others? I mean, to even suggest that aboriginals ride for free......most people will find that completely absurd. More likely, the first weekend of Canada Line operations might be free for the public... Edited October 27, 2008 by nitronuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 why is it a terrible idea? Replace "aboriginal" with "white", and you'll get the drift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePointblank Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Terrible idea.... Well, VIA Rail undertook a campaign during the summer by giving all Canadian Forces and Department of National Defence employees free unlimited travel in economy class anywhere on VIA’s network... they also gave a 50% discount for the families of military employees. The end result was that VIA managed to boost revenues by almost a million dollars, and strengthened revenue and ridership for months after the promotion. People thought they were mad, but they did make a ton of money through this promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 I'd rather give all the people in social welfare free access to transit rather than to discriminate a specific group of individuals, on race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtzfan Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 ^ why should a group of individuals be more important than others? I mean, to even suggest that aboriginals ride for free......most people will find that completely absurd. More likely, the first weekend of Canada Line operations might be free for the public... oh no.. if it is gong to be free, the trains will be overloaded. I remember that each train can only fit around 400 people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 quite some sight....from YVR Airport Station: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armada Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 B7417 is the first and only bus in Translink's fleet that has the electronic ad display: "> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naslund Jr. Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 B7417 is the first and only bus in Translink's fleet that has the electronic ad display: "> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeGillis58 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 (edited) quite some sight....from YVR Airport Station: Is the cement made from good quality? Those beams won't crumble after 20 years right? It seems that the Canada Line is cheaply made, I wouldn't be surprised if they cut corners. This reminds me of the Springfield Monorail. Edited October 27, 2008 by AstraZeneca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 Is the cement made from good quality? Those beams won't crumble after 20 years right? It seems that the Canada Line is cheaply made, I wouldn't be surprised if they cut corners. This reminds me of the Springfield Monorail. lol....it's good quality concrete, made locally at one of the plants in the Fraser......surely no fake Chinese styrofoam concrete. In fact, the elevated guideway for the Canada Line is more superior than the Millennium Line. They have cut corners, but only in the design - not quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Fraser Institute: BC's transportation system one of Canada's worst Wednesday, October 22 - 02:34:20 PM Katharine Kitts/Mike Hanafin VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - A new study released today by the Fraser Institute ranks B.C.'s transportation system as one of the worst in Canada. Ontario topped the list, with B.C. and Newfoundland at the bottom. The study looked at use, accessibilty, cost and safety of different modes of transportation--including highways, transit, air and ferry service. The ratings were broken into two categories: Passenger and Freight. B.C. ranked dead last for passengers, and 3rd for freight. Niels Velduis with the Fraser Insitute says transportation performance is critical to the economic health of a province, and B.C.'s roads and highways were one of the biggest drains on our ranking. "We have a highway system that has very high levels of congestion, we have long commuting times, high accident rates and our cost in terms of our road system is higher than most of the other provinces. " The Fraser Institute also says B.C. has the most costly transit system with only average per-capita transit use. Velduis says it's not just an opinion. "This is all data that's based on government statistics and TransLink and from the Department of Transportation." Go figure. Our largest city is largely sitting on a highly compressible river delta criss crossed with numerous creeks and streams not to mention a very large river, as well as a large ocean inlet. The capital is on an offshore island. The interior is mountain range after mountain range, so much so that 10% of it is glaciated. Combine that with 30 years of near inaction and protest to any sort of infrastructure investment, and this is what you get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Is the cement made from good quality? Those beams won't crumble after 20 years right? It seems that the Canada Line is cheaply made, I wouldn't be surprised if they cut corners. This reminds me of the Springfield Monorail. It's next to impossible to get inferior concrete into a structure, especially one like that. Usually all three of the owner, the builder, and the supplier have independant testing going on just in case things go south and things get rejected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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