The Official Transit Thread

[inane]

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Metro+mayors+agree+explore+Evergreen+Line+financing+options/3570044/story.html

METRO VANCOUVER -- Metro mayors have struck a deal with the B.C. government to consider everything from road pricing, vehicle levies and carbon tax revenue to help pay for the long-awaited Evergreen Line.

Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender, chairman of the regional mayors' council on transportation, said Metro mayors will vote at the end of this year on a proposed financial supplement to build the rapid transit line to Coquitlam.

TransLink must come up with its share -- $400 million-- of the $1.2 billion project.

"What it will look like and how it will be funded I can't tell you," he told participants at Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday. "But I can tell you the premier and the minister have said the line will be built and you can take that to the bank."

Under a memorandum of understanding signed Thursday between the mayors' council and the province, the two sides have agreed to work together to find the money for the Evergreen Line and build a "long-term sustainable transit system."

Premier Gordon Campbell said "everything's back on the table," including the possibility of charging a contentious vehicle levy. But before any decisions are made, the public will be able to have their say, he added.

"We can't keep on adding to our demand if we don't have a revenue stream to support it," Campbell said outside the meeting at the Vancouver Golf Course in Coquitlam.

"It's time for us to have an adult conversation with people about the services we're trying to provide, what services they want ... And what trade-offs they're likely to support."

Transportation Minister Shirley Bond said the MOU is about laying out a framework to discuss funding transit "priorities" in Metro Vancouver. One possibility for funding, she said, is perhaps taking advantage of a development clause to have investors pay for transit enhancements.

She said it will be up the regional mayors to decide if the financial supplement will only fund the Evergreen Line or other projects.

"Everybody wants more transit and transportation options but nobody can figure out how to pay for them," she said, adding the rest of the province will be watching this situation "closely."

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said the deal will allow municipalities to use other means -- other than just raising property taxes -- to pay for transit services.

"If we don't have those tools we may as well give up," he said, but added "the goal has to be sustainable transportation across the region."

Construction is expected to start on the Evergreen Line next year with completion in 2014.

Campbell--'It's time to have an adult conversation.' Suddenly the guy wants to talk to the public, curious that...

[aGENT]

They could just charge the ridership for the service....

[inane]

Charge what ridership?

[Vapourstreak]

Charge what ridership?

Exactly.

[inane]

Exactly.

Exactly what?

Do you mean exactly as in there is little ridership? Because given that Vancouver has one of the highest rates of transit use per capita I'm sure you wouldn't be ignorant enough to say that.

Right?

[ronthecivil]

Exactly what?

Do you mean exactly as in there is little ridership? Because given that Vancouver has one of the highest rates of transit use per capita I'm sure you wouldn't be ignorant enough to say that.

Right?

I think that's the ridership they were wondering about charging. Why did you forget them earlier, amnesia?

[inane]

I think that's the ridership they were wondering about charging. Why did you forget them earlier, amnesia?

Transit ridership already pays...? What am I forgetting about?

I was wondering if JR meant single occupancy automobile riders should pay, because that would make sense.

[ronthecivil]

Transit ridership already pays...? What am I forgetting about?

I was wondering if JR meant single occupancy automobile riders should pay, because that would make sense.

People driving cars should pay for the people on transit?

Whether or not cars are currently paying the costs of the roads might be debatable. Transit fares only pay for what, 50% of operating costs?

[inane]

People driving cars should pay for the people on transit?

Whether or not cars are currently paying the costs of the roads might be debatable. Transit fares only pay for what, 50% of operating costs?

No, people in cars (which includes me most of the time fyi) should pay somewhere remotely close to the true cost of driving which they currently don't.

[aGENT]

Transit ridership already pays...? What am I forgetting about?

I was wondering if JR meant single occupancy automobile riders should pay, because that would make sense.

Both. I actually think that drivers should pay more and I'm all for gas taxes (not on commercial vehicles though) as it fairly charges those who want to also drive large, wasteful vehicles. I'd also like to see some of that tax money going towards alternative energy research, infrastructure and subsidies for clean/alternative energy. (Even better would be to shift some or all of the vast revenue already collected on gas taxes to these things rather than going in to general revenue as I can only assume it does now. But then I guess health care would suffer )

But I also think transit ridership has to pay a fairer share of the costs involved where the politicians "don't know where it's coming from". I'd be happy if 60% of the money to pay for these added services came from ridership and 40% from gas taxes.

[ronthecivil]

No, people in cars (which includes me most of the time fyi) should pay somewhere remotely close to the true cost of driving which they currently don't.

Fair enough.

That still leaves us short a source for transit funding. Fares don't even cover half the costs, and property owners are getting grumpy about their ever rising taxes.

[aGENT]

No, people in cars (which includes me most of the time fyi) should pay somewhere remotely close to the true cost of driving which they currently don't.

And conversely transit users should pay somewhere remotely close to the true cost of providing those services as well... street runs both ways...

[inane]

And conversely transit users should pay somewhere remotely close to the true cost of providing those services as well... street runs both ways...

Transit is a benefit that serves the entire spectrum of the public. Private automobiles are a luxury of the rich.

[aGENT]

Transit is a benefit that serves the entire spectrum of the public. Private automobiles are a luxury of the rich.

That's just a tad simplistic. And it still doesn't help pay for the services.

[inane]

That's just a tad simplistic. And it still doesn't help pay for the services.

Of course it's simplistic. Any of our posts are simplistic. People spend careers on this, write phd's on this. An internet hockey forum is hardly the place for in depth discussion...

Paying for services is always an issue. But we need to think about priorities in the LONG TERM. Where is our money best spent?

[ronthecivil]

Of course it's simplistic. Any of our posts are simplistic. People spend careers on this, write phd's on this. An internet hockey forum is hardly the place for in depth discussion...

Paying for services is always an issue. But we need to think about priorities in the LONG TERM. Where is our money best spent?

Where is pointless when you don't have it in the first place. I would concentrate on where that $400 million is going to come from. Last I checked voters are royally po'd re taxes and I know where I would be placing my bet on the public reaction to the proposed funding ideas they dream up will be!

[inane]

Where is pointless when you don't have it in the first place. I would concentrate on where that $400 million is going to come from. Last I checked voters are royally po'd re taxes and I know where I would be placing my bet on the public reaction to the proposed funding ideas they dream up will be!

Speaking strictly about this 400 million for evergreen--why is it such an issue? The province came up with billions for gateway without blinking an eye.

If not having the money is going to stop transit from being developed that's fine. But don't turn around and spend millions on BC Place, billions on highways and then tell us you have no money.

[ahzdeen]

Speaking strictly about this 400 million for evergreen--why is it such an issue? The province came up with billions for gateway without blinking an eye.

If not having the money is going to stop transit from being developed that's fine. But don't turn around and spend millions on BC Place, billions on highways and then tell us you have no money.

Aren't they chipping in? It's translink's job to run the system, isn't it? Can't be just taking money and not putting up your own.

[ronthecivil]

Speaking strictly about this 400 million for evergreen--why is it such an issue? The province came up with billions for gateway without blinking an eye.

If not having the money is going to stop transit from being developed that's fine. But don't turn around and spend millions on BC Place, billions on highways and then tell us you have no money.

Well, can't say much about the BC place thing, though much of that is also to blame with the city of Van (where else) and all those fun decisions where people were turning down free stadiums....

The billions on gateway is like the even more billions on site C. It's an investiment that will yield revenue down the road that will pay off the initial capital cost. That toll on the Port Mann bridge is going to be a licence to print money.

Investing in the evergreen line is a good idea, but there is no way in heck the fare revenue is going to recover the capital costs. In fact, it will add operational costs above and beyond those that translink is already having a hard time maintaining.

[Wetcoaster]

Forge annual transit passes and face a 2 1/2 year sentence.

A 26-year-old Burnaby man has pled guilty in Surrey Provincial Court for his part in selling forged transit passes.

Mathew Stuthard was sentenced on Tuesday to two-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of forgery and fraud.

The case involved the sale of fraudulent Ministry of Social Services transit passes being sold in significant quantities.

The Transit Police's crime reduction unit, using plainclothes officers, investigated the sales of the passes in Surrey and continued the investigation in Burnaby.

The unit, armed with a search warrant, then entered the Burnaby residence and seized counterfeit Canadian currency, computer equipment used in the manufacture of forged transit passes, forged Alberta driver's licenses, retail credit and gift cards, government identification and other evidence of identity theft.

The forged transit passes in this case are ones issued annually by the B.C. Ministry of Social Services to special needs clients for unlimited use of the transit system.

"The forgery of the MSS passes had the potential to result in significant losses of revenue for TransLink, totalling approximately $250,000 a year," said Transit Police spokesperson Const. Jim Biring in a prepared release. "The forgery of MSS passes seriously undermines the confidence in all passes issued to all special needs clients and exposes them to unnecessary examination and review by police authorities."

http://www.burnabynow.com/Burnaby+pleads+guilty+transit+pass+fraud+case/3564966/story.html#ixzz10UWHwLvP