The Hook

Isn't that the same day the the Liberals will be required to produce the evasive emails? I am much more interested in if Scampbell will defy the court order, or not, than seeing the Canada Line opened.

The RAV/Canada line is a massive scandal and there should be an investigation.

Metro/subways are never planned for unless projected ridership on the line exceeds 400,000 to 500,000 a day. If a metro line does not carry such numbers it must be heavily subsidized; the fewer the passengers the higher the subsidy! Higher subsidies translates into road tolls and higher property taxes.

But there is more. Subways have proven very poor in attracting new ridership and the Canada Line may very well force more people into cars.

The Canada Line is too costly to be extended and as designed will only offer faster journey times to those who live and work near RAV stations. For many, taking the car will be faster than taking a bus transferring to RAV at Casino Junction and possibly transferring to another bus to complete their journey.

One can lose upwards of 70% of potential ridership per transfer.

A metro system’s speed does not attract ridership itself, rather it is the speed of the overall journey that is important. Studies have shown that RAV will increase journey times for most current bus customers, who will lose their direct ‘Express’ buses and be forced to transfer onto the metro.

According to the group DoRav Right, who did an independent audit of the RAV/Canada Line, the cost was near $2.5 billion, not the $2 billion quoted by the BC Liberal Government.

The Canada Line P-3 was a charade and the consortium which built the subway used cheap foreign labour and a ‘bait & switch’ from bored tunnel to cheaper cut-and-cover subway construction. The recent successful action by Cambie St. merchant, Susan Heyes, against TransLink, may wipe out any cost savings the switch as more merchants are now suing TransLink. At no time did the consortium assume risk on RAV, as the taxpayer will soon find out.

The sad fact about the RAV/Canada Line, as its costs soared above the original estimate of $1.3 billion, the scope of the project was greatly reduced. As built, RAV/Canada Line has roughly half the capacity of a light rail line built down Cambie St. or the dreaded Arbutus Corridor. To bring the RAV metro up to just LRT’s capabilities, one would have to invest at least another billion dollars and do the cut-and-cover thing all over again on Cambie St.!

What the RAV/Canada Line really is, is a hugely expensive, politically prestigious, under built metro system, like a cheap Xmas train-set, that will fail to attract sufficient patronage to justify its construction.

And one wonders why TransLink is in such financial peril and Campbell has forced the phony ‘carbon’ or gas tax and HST onto the public?

.....Isn't that the same day the the Liberals will be required to produce the evasive emails?

Why yes Karen, it most certainly is.

PAB Bots......Set The Deflector Spin On Maximum Stun!

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On one hand, having commuted to and from Richmond on the 98 B-Line, the new train will mean I can visit my parents in Steveston without investing an hour and 30 minutes to get there from downtown.

On the other hand...

• The Canada Line rolling stock is incompatible with SkyTrain. This means we're doomed to maintaining two systems - staffing, equipment, everything. Want more gear? Order it from Korea.
• The Skytrain and Canada Line can never be joined. We could have had Expo Line trains running through Waterfront and continuing out to Richmond. The whole unified transit system thing? Negated. Permanently. Stupid. Initial cost only counts for part of the equation - we still have to pay to maintain the thing.
• The private company that's contracted to run Canada Line has no risk of taking a loss if ridership doesn't match projections. TransLink's on the hook for that. P3s are so great!
• The elevated portions of the line are much lower than SkyTrain. Talk about an eyesore. Richmond Centre is ugly, to be sure, but now it has an in-your-face horizontal concrete monolith right down its 'showcase' main drag. How long until the supports start shifting and sinking in the river delta sands they were built on?
• Don't even get me started on the brilliance of the 'single track' segments of the line, or the extra fare if you need to get to the airport ($6+ to go 3 more stops!), or the stubby little stations that limit train length.

Gah. I'll use it, sure, but I'll be shaking my head to myself every time I ride the thing.