Not in My Lifetime

Not in My Lifetime

Postby Jack Bennest » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:12 am

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - TransLink's new CEO Tom Prendergast has lofty plans for the transportation system in Metro Vancouver, especially when it comes to making it easier for people to choose public transit over cars.

Prendergast spoke at a luncheon hosted by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, and actually took transit to the meeting.

He has big plans for our transportation system, but warns they will cost big dollars. "You're going to add a million people...we think we're probably going to need somewhere between $200 and $300 million of additional revenue to achieve those goals. "

Prendergast's focus is on getting people out of their cars. He adds that the days commuting by car from the suburbs to the downtown core will soon be over, and transit needs to be ready when that happens. He says he's also focusing on the movement of people between regions of the Lower Mainland, instead of simply for the people heading into Vancouver.

Prendergast calls SkyTrain 'phenomenal', and he predicts big changes over the next years.

**

Come on fellow - there is going to be lots of buses, lots of transit, lots of bikes and lots of scooters - but cars and streets are not going away.

What we need is a transit idea on the books as one is being built. We seem to plan in BC by waiting for a bridge to reach full capacity and then someone says - hey its busy lets expand the bridge. We must spend billions if we keep allowing more people into the province, into the city, the valley and beyond hope.

You cannot have one without the other and back to the lead item....not in my lifetime you won't.
User avatar
Jack Bennest
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 4471
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:25 pm

Postby Mike Cleaver » Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:30 pm

What we need is some transportation INTEGRATION on the Lower Mainland.
The people who plan and build roads and the people who supposedly plan and build public transit seem always to be at odds with each other.
For example, transit builds a new bridge across the Fraser River at Cambie for the Canada Line but it doesn't include traffic lanes for cars and/or trucks.
It would seem if you're going to build a bridge across a river, make it multi-purpose.
And why wasn't the Canada Line extended under Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver via tunnel, which also could have included a third link for motor vehicles?
What about the replacement for the Patullo Bridge across the Fraser?
Will it too only be a single purpose bridge?
What about the concept of two decks, one for cars, pedestrians and cyclists, the second for buses and trucks?
Bridges make the Lower Mainland a traffic nightmare.
They are the ever-present choke points, even at today's traffic volume.
More bridges and tunnels are needed if traffic is ever to flow smoothly as the region continues to grow.
Last edited by Mike Cleaver on Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mike Cleaver Broadcast Services
Engineering, News, Voice work and Consulting
Vancouver, BC, Canada

54 years experience at some of Canada's Premier Broadcasting Stations
User avatar
Mike Cleaver
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 2085
Joined: Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:56 pm
Location: Vancouver

Postby PMC » Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:32 pm

Vancouver has always been slow in traffic design when compared to other cities... there is a bright side, places like Montreal or Toronto, that built alot of the infrastructure in 60's and 70's now have to rebuild it all because it is falling apart... highways, bridges and overpasses etc.

When the price of gas hits twice what it is now, and the average person is not making enough money to buy it, the cars will disappear, and they should, so that mass transit is used... look at the cost of building a road, when LRT is far better to take those cars off the existing roads... all you have to do is look at some european cities at how they have changed, to see the result that will come here.

Hydrogen powered vehicles are the way of the future, however the cost factor will keep 80% of the population from buying one for the next twenty years.... BMW probably has the best hydrogen system going... it works on regular gas/or hydrogen etc.

And yes, it will probably begin to occur past your lifetime and mine too.
PMC
 

Postby David in North Burnaby » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:29 pm

When I've tried taking transit, the buses and trains have been filthy and strewn with litter , there's always goofballs eating flinging food around, junkies passed out, punks acting up looking for trouble, its very unattractive. They've got a long way to go to get me out of my car.
Have you thought of Allat and al-'Uzza and Manat the third, the other? These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is to be hoped for. (Q.53) Satan's Version

http://davidinnorthburnablog.blogspot.com/
User avatar
David in North Burnaby
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 160
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:01 pm

Postby PMC » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:25 pm

David in North Burnaby wrote:When I've tried taking transit, the buses and trains have been filthy and strewn with litter , there's always goofballs eating flinging food around, junkies passed out, punks acting up looking for trouble, its very unattractive. They've got a long way to go to get me out of my car.


Definately a social problem, and a lack of management on the part of transit... Translink is a joke in many ways... when I read about a transit cop zapping someone with a taser because they did not pay the fare, it tells you alot about management.

The minds of kids are like sponges, they absorb from what is around them. How many parents actually take an interest in their kids daily.

I never blame the kids, I blame their parents, and the crap that society and the media dumps into their heads, most of which is done to make a buck.

The media is responsible for creating 8 to 12 year kids to believe what they see on tv and read in those trash magazines.

Look at shows like Entertainment Tonght... self marketing of the industry that only wants to make money by feeding trivial bullshit on a daily basis that has no use in most people's daily lives, and convince everybody it is the only way to live, and if you don't, then you're a loser etc.

The same applies to the drug use... follow the money trail, it is not kids causing the problem, it is the selfish greedy adults.
PMC
 

Re: Not in My Lifetime

Postby kat » Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:17 pm

Top Dog wrote:VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - TransLink's new CEO Tom Prendergast has lofty plans for the transportation system in Metro Vancouver, especially when it comes to making it easier for people to choose public transit over cars.

.......

Prendergast's focus is on getting people out of their cars. He adds that the days commuting by car from the suburbs to the downtown core will soon be over, and transit needs to be ready when that happens. He says he's also focusing on the movement of people between regions of the Lower Mainland, instead of simply for the people heading into Vancouver.



What this pinhead at Translink can't get through his fat head is the fact that not everybody works downtown anymore.

People live in White Rock and commute to work in Langley (bus service sucks big time). How about the poor people that have to commute to Abbotsford from Cloverdale, Langley, Surrey or North Delta? Service east of Langley is a joke and it's non-existant beyond Aldergrove. You have to drive, There is no option.

To hell with adding more skytrain service and B-Line buses into Vancouver and along Broadway. Get a fast train running on the old tram line from Chillwack to New West or at least to somewhere in Surrey. Get regular bus service into the valley.

The jobs and the workers are heading eastward, why aren't the buses?
The world has two kinds of people. Cat people and idiots.
User avatar
kat
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 532
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:36 pm
Location: Bellingham, WA


Return to BC Radio History quizzes

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 79 guests