$8.5 million dollar test project considered unviable. Say goodbye to Vancouver’s streetcar.
After two months, an $8.5 million dollar investment and ridership of over 500,000 passengers, Vancouver's streetcar experiment of running cars between the Canada Line's Olympic Village station and Granville Island ended with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson saying he has no ideas on a permanent solution for the route.
In a quote from Robertson, "I am open minded but we have to be pragmatic here and work with our transportation partners," Mr. Robertson said on the day the last of the Bombardier Transportation cars travelled a 1.8-kilometre route between Granville Island and Science World. Mr. Robertson said the best bet for the return of streetcars could be as part of a transit system running along Broadway, possibly built some time after the Evergreen Skytrain Line is running in 2014. Noting that he is waiting for Translink and the province to join the conversation on finding a partnership solution. Good luck finding those parties on the same dinner reservation in the near future.
This is a truly sad day for Vancouverites who are continually promised green, cost effective alternatives to interurban transportation and then fed the same old tired Translink rhetoric. For once, when we were offered the option during the Olympic trial, citizens overwhelmingly took up the torch in support of the project – only for this to be snuffed out by the deaf ears of our local politicians and transportation authority.
Forget light rail. Go Skytrain?
When will we learn that this grossly expensive white elephant of a people mover has been made obsolete by light rail transit in most cities throughout the world? Think Portland. Think San Francisco. Think Toronto. In the US, streetcars and light rail will be returning to streets in 22 cities over the next 2 years! These cities are hoping that this mode of transportation can do in this century what they did in the last: Connect neighbourhoods and provide a relatively cheap alternative to walking and driving.
So where does that leave us?
Currently, the province and Translink are scrambling to find $400-million to fully cover the budget for the Evergreen Line estimated to cost $1.4 billion. Even more laughable, they are looking at a $3-4 billion Broadway UBC expansion.
To put this into perspective, according to city staff, the estimated cost of a permanent street car solution using and upgrading existing rail corridors from the current Granville Island final stop through to downtown, extending all the way to Chilco Street in Stanley Park and with connections at Science World and Waterfront Skytrain - Just $90 million.
The sad truth is that Skytrain has become so unpopular that just 7 cities continue to enjoy the system. I don’t mean to knock this technology – our new Olympic line from Richmond to the Downtown Waterfront is spectacular. Skytrain or subway can have its place in Vancouver. However, in a city know as being a leader in sustainability and green initiatives we are clearly drinking some bad kool-aid. We need to sober up and understand that in a new economy strapped for cash and government incentives, a better, cheaper and more adaptable transportation solution must be found in denser urban areas, which serves the needs of local commuters and residents without emptying the cities coffers.
Kim Robertson
