A fantastic success during the Games, but is it worth the cost after?
Yes, the ridership far exceeded expectations during the Olympic Games (as did most modes of transit within the City of Vancouver).
Yes, the dream of expasnion is intriguing in terms of the connections it could make from different transit nodes.
But with the province completely in the hole, Translink unable to see past its current fiscal year towards the inevitable reorganization that is coming, and the federal government done with kicking in additional cash for any of Metro Vancouver’s transit needs, the City of Vancouver is on its own if it wants to continue this service.
With a rumoured $90 million continuation commitment being thrown around by the City of Vancouver’s engineering department, that is completely insane to even consider.
Here is hoping that Vancouver City Council either gets a private operator to solely kick in that cash, or instead widely publicizes this proposed price tag and then kills the idea.
I loved the streetcar too, and would also love to see it expanded across the city.
But at $90 million, I can certainly do without it.
That is a pricey ride. It’s too bad, it’s a beautiful machine.
90 million dollars was 20 million dollars less than each kilometre of the Canada Line.
I’m not sure how that is considered a ridiculous price tag, especially when you consider that the Evergreen Line will cost well over a billion dollars (admittedly, 800 million is already allotted)