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B.C. Unveils Huge Transit Plan

unimaginative2

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B.C. unveils huge transit plan

DARREN YOURK

Globe and Mail Update

January 14, 2008 at 2:23 PM EST

The British Columbia government unveiled a $14-billion transit and transportation strategy Monday, calling it a key measure in the province's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon announced the plan in Vancouver.

The agreement is highlighted by $10.3-billion investment in four new rapid transit lines in Metro Vancouver — the Evergreen Line, the UBC Line, the upgraded Expo Line and the Canada Line. Another $1.2-billion has been earmarked for a new energy-efficient, high-capacity RapidBus BC service along nine major routes in Kelowna, Victoria and Metro Vancouver.

The plan, scheduled for completion in 2020, also includes a $1.6-billion investment in 1,500 new, clean energy buses and related maintenance infrastructure to provide communities with improved bus service.

“Our new plan will double transit ridership by increasing choice for people around the province, with new fleets, green technology, new lines and new innovative services like RapidBus BC,” Mr. Campbell said.

“The plan focuses on safe, comfortable, reliable services that will highlight green technologies and will reshape our communities by encouraging integration of work, home and recreational activities. It provides people with the choices they need to make a difference.”

The provincial government says the project will save 4.7 million tonnes in transportation greenhouse gases – about the equivalent of parking all the cars and light trucks in Metro Vancouver for a full year.

The province has committed $4.75-billion toward the project, with the remainder coming from partners including the federal government, TransLink and local governments.

There are also plans to increase security measures to enhance transit safety. Electronic gates and closed-circuit cameras will be installed at rapid transit and new RapidBus stations. A smart-card system for rapid transit and buses, which users can reload at vending machines or on the Internet, will also be implemented.

“The transit plan sets out innovative, integrated, customized solutions for individual communities to keep people and goods moving efficiently in B.C. as part of our broader transportation strategy,” said Mr. Falcon.

“Increased transit will allow people more choice, and often time savings. For example, during peak periods, transit riders travelling between Coquitlam Centre and Vancouver International Airport can save more than an hour every day compared to drivers.”
 
The Evergreen Line is traditional LRT, whereas the UBC Line is an extension of the Millennium Line (SkyTrain ALRT) from VCC Station down to UBC Campus.
 
Let's hope that all the other provinces will choose to copy MoveOntario 2020.

This is a good plan, though it's maybe a bit too Vancouver-centric. I would have like to have seen a little more for Victoria, like a light rail line and improved transit over the Malahat.
 
I like this transit plan better than MoveOntario 2020, but that's probably because I always thought that Transit City was basically an ill-thought Steve Munro and Giambrone dream.

The skytrain extension to UBC along Broadway is one of the best possible additions I could think of in the country. With the opening of the RAV line and the Evergreen line, Vancouver now has something that Toronto has not been able to achieve in over 50 years: create a real rapid transit network with multiple intersecting lines.
 
A pretty good plan, and certainly one that seems to have been given much deeper thought than the MoveOntario2020 plan (aka transit planning by rubber stamp).

The big question in my mind is one of technology. Construction of the Evergreen line is already in progress as a surface LRT, but is illustrated just the same as the Skytrain and Canada (subway) lines (in both the official documents and the G&M article). That makes me wonder about the UBC line. The previous plan was to extend the Millennium Skytrain line as a subway under Broadway, but it was also stated that isn't viable to extend the Skytrain all the way to UBC, only making sense as far as Arbutus or so.

If the UBC line ends up being LRT, Vancouver is going to end up with its own version of Transit City. A trip from Coquitlam to the Airport, previously planned to require a single change of trains, would now take the form of LRT-Skytrain-LRT-Subway, or a (literally) looping trip via Waterfront.
 
The strangest thing about the Vancouver plan is the main intersection (VCC-Broadway) for all its rapid transit routes isn't downtown, but in the true centre of the city.
 
The previous plan was to extend the Millennium Skytrain line as a subway under Broadway, but it was also stated that isn't viable to extend the Skytrain all the way to UBC, only making sense as far as Arbutus or so.

If the UBC line ends up being LRT, Vancouver is going to end up with its own version of Transit City. A trip from Coquitlam to the Airport, previously planned to require a single change of trains, would now take the form of LRT-Skytrain-LRT-Subway, or a (literally) looping trip via Waterfront.

The Skytrain should at the very least extend under Broadway to Cambie - it's not that far from VCC station, I think the part west of there could be effectively served by LRT, and that would avoid the worst of a Transfer City-Sheppard flaw we're certain to get here. I've taken the B-Line and both trolley bus routes to UBC, past Arbutus, it really doesn't warrant Skytrain (apart from UBC itself), the hills get steep near there, and you're in deep West Side Vancouver - NIMBY alert!
 
Let's hope that all the other provinces will choose to copy MoveOntario 2020.

This is a good plan, though it's maybe a bit too Vancouver-centric. I would have like to have seen a little more for Victoria, like a light rail line and improved transit over the Malahat.
I think introducing ferries that don't crash into charted rocks would be a good start.
 
It's pretty well acknowledged that both the M-Line extension (UBC Line) and the Surrey Expo Line extension will be Bombardier Skytrain.

The question is whether the Evergreen Line would be reversed back to Skytrain. No physical construction has been started on this line as LRT - just planning (i.e. like the former PMC Skytrain Line when it was cancelled by the Liberals when they entered power). So both LRT and Skytrain options could be viewed as being at the same stage of planning if you dig up the old PMC plans. Given the expansion of the Skytrain fleet required for the Expo Line expansion and the UBC Line, an additional Skytrain OMC yard will be required, and the Evergreen Line would be a convenient location for that.

The routing of the Surrey extension to Guildford is also a topic of discussion.

The only real "new" items on this plan are the Expo Line expansion (lengthening platforms to hold 6 car MKII trains) and the Surrey extension to Guildford. The balance of the plan really involves acceleration of existing plans for both rapid transit and rapid bus services from 2030 to 2020..
 
I think that judging by the price, it'll likely be full Skytrain to UBC. The Canada line is the most remarkable. For two billion, they're getting over 18km of true rapid transit, most of it underground.
 

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