A letter to the Editor of the Vancouver Sun on January 10th from Malcolm Johnston a supporter of the NO campaign.
Re: Vote Yes to proposed transit tax, Column, Jan. 3
Don Cayo’s column is a very naive view on such a serious subject.
This is what voting yes will mean:
1. TransLink will continue having a per revenue passenger cost about one third higher than Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto.
2. Mode share for cars in the region will remain around 57 per cent as it has done for over 20 years.
3. TransLink will still plan for the obsolete SkyTrain mini-metro despite the fact no one one builds with it anymore because it costs more to build, operate and maintain than light rail transit (LRT), yet has less capacity.
4. TransLink will build a Broadway subway which will carry fewer than 6,000 persons per hour per direction, even when the Toronto Transit Commission finds that the politically-inspired subway replacement for their SkyTrain, will max out at only 9,000 passengers per hour per direction in the next decade and will “not be value for money spent” and LRT would be a better investment.
5. TransLink will bumble along until they scream “financial crisis” again and more new taxes will have to be found to “feed the beast.”
If we want to improve transit, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results will not do.
We must repair TransLink and the only way to force the issue, is to vote No.
MALCOLM JOHNSTON, Delta