Comments on: Trankslink and the province hold Mayors to ransom http://civicscene.ca/trankslink-and-the-province-hold-mayors-to-ransom Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 28 Nov 2010 03:13:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Throwing Up In My Mouth A Little http://civicscene.ca/trankslink-and-the-province-hold-mayors-to-ransom/comment-page-1#comment-271 Throwing Up In My Mouth A Little Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:49:40 +0000 http://civicscene.ca/?p=1915#comment-271 Jonathan, I think this link will be very educational for you. http://mikeclay.blogspot.com/2009/10/translink-10-year-financial-plan.html Jonathan, I think this link will be very educational for you.
http://mikeclay.blogspot.com/2009/10/translink-10-year-financial-plan.html

]]> By: zweisystem http://civicscene.ca/trankslink-and-the-province-hold-mayors-to-ransom/comment-page-1#comment-252 zweisystem Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:27:20 +0000 http://civicscene.ca/?p=1915#comment-252 When one operates very expensive light-metro on routes that do not have the ridership to support it, expect high subsidies. When there is now three light-metro lines, operating on routes that do not have the ridership to sustain them, watch out for massive subsidies. To date, the SkyTrain light-metro system is subsidized by over $230 million annually; with RAV/Canada line, expect the the annual subsidy to rise past $300 million. Sadly there is only one taxpayer and it seems the SkyTrain/light-metro subsidies have sucked monies out of TransLink that could be otherwise spent on other transit projects. By caving into TransLink we will just continue the the vicious circle of bad transit planning > higher costs > higher subsidies > higher taxes > more bad planning > higher costs > higher subsidies > higher taxes > more bad planning .......... To think, the taxpayer has now spent over $8 billion on SkyTrain/RAV, yet light-metro ridership has only kept pace with population increase, TransLink has yet to show a modal shift from car to transit. Caving in to TransLink is like giving an alcoholic another drink. When one operates very expensive light-metro on routes that do not have the ridership to support it, expect high subsidies. When there is now three light-metro lines, operating on routes that do not have the ridership to sustain them, watch out for massive subsidies.

To date, the SkyTrain light-metro system is subsidized by over $230 million annually; with RAV/Canada line, expect the the annual subsidy to rise past $300 million. Sadly there is only one taxpayer and it seems the SkyTrain/light-metro subsidies have sucked monies out of TransLink that could be otherwise spent on other transit projects.

By caving into TransLink we will just continue the the vicious circle of bad transit planning > higher costs > higher subsidies > higher taxes > more bad planning > higher costs > higher subsidies > higher taxes > more bad planning ……….

To think, the taxpayer has now spent over $8 billion on SkyTrain/RAV, yet light-metro ridership has only kept pace with population increase, TransLink has yet to show a modal shift from car to transit.

Caving in to TransLink is like giving an alcoholic another drink.

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