I will vote yes for the Mayors Transit plan for Vancouver, BC
As an elected councillor in my past I have seen how badly underfunded public transport hurts people both in the medium and long term. How it does immense damage to the vulnerable in our society. And how do we want to treat our environment? How clean do we want our air? Our populations are always growing, how many cars do we really need?
Newquay North, Cornwall County Council, UK, 2005
Should we have a better Transit System?
I would like Vancouver to become a better place for everyone. That people can get around easier without cars (e.g. children/elders, the vulnerable), that they can choose jobs/schools further afield, that they can explore more of Vancouver and discover “new” shops/businesses to become customers of. I would like to see a city that manages its carbon footprint better as it grows. A big step to ensure our future is smog free is to invest in our public transport infrastructure.
I have seen the impact of under investment in public transport. Rising house prices, congestion, more anger from traffic jams or the buses being full, the reduction in family time due to longer commutes, smog and the impact on businesses. People’s health (both physical and mental), finances and job satisfaction all take a middle and long term hit. It can be easy to fall into the trap of anger.
I remember when I lived in London, before they got congestion under control, my snot was often black. After it went back to green and clear.
Why did the Mayors decide to fund it this way
You pay your taxes, you pay for your monthly bus pass. And then the bus you rely on is late, or is full, and you miss an important meeting or you’re late to a friend’s birthday. The anger and the disappointment have lead us to resentment, and it is clouding or judgment in this matter. We have to find it within ourselves to move past the anger and to forgive. Only once we’ve forgiven can we begin to see the solutions, and begin to part of the solution. Don’t simply look at this campaign as voting to part with your money. The mayors council looked at a bunch of different ways to fund it and all but one mayor agreed 22 out of 23, as this every happened before? The summary and the detail – Look at Appendix F
We live in a community to help each other not just ourselves
Whilst I appreciate that my tax dollars are going into this project, I will not wholly benefit myself as I live downtown and walk 30/40 mins to work. Even though I do not care to ride a bike (as I prefer to walk), I appreciate the need for them – they give us the option to be car free. Community is not just about my personal needs, it is also about how kind thoughtful I am, my willingness to share and collaborate with all. And most importantly, don’t simply think of improving your situation. Remember the elderly person down the street who needs Handydart, and how a line to UBC would improve the state for students. It is the glue of our society and our community.
Should we have had a vote?
I agree that this should have being decided by politicians. But with the HST popular vote, we now have a well funded anti-tax, anti-government campaign that will plague every decision and ask for a refer on everything now. Many of the decisions “blamed” on Translink were actually decided by politicians at the Provincial level. While I will vote yes, I will also be looking for new politicians in the next provincial elections that will make the right decisions for our future and some will not be popular.
Has Translink being Audited?
Yes.
Three years ago the province responded by auditing TransLink to find efficiencies. That 2012 audit identified $41m in potential savings. Which is great. Over the previous two years, TransLink themselves had already found $98m in internal savings. That’s $139m in total savings over 3-4 years.That doesn’t sound like rampant mismanagement to me. That sounds like an organization actively trying to save public tax dollars. And succeeding. Despite all that, none of those savings was enough to fund future growth.
http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/ias/pdf_docs/Review_of_TransLink_2012.pdf
Who is actually delivering the Compass Card?
For example for the Compass Card TransLink contracts out installation, maintenance, and daily operation of the system to San Diego based Cubic Transportation Systems. This company was chosen by Provincial politicians, not Translink and why not they implemented the Oyster card in London, UK. The delay and extra cost is focus on the type of system i.e. double tap, one tap is ready to go, the double tap is not. The most detail I could find was the technology on buses is not able to cope with the demand that may occur.
“From my knowledge the system runs on Windows CE and there are no issues with that as far as I’m concerned, as long as it’s the newest and most updated system,” he said. “But what is more likely the culprit is the local telecommunications system that the [mobile card readers] are operated on. Our wireless network can be unreliable and even spotty particularly with data.”
TransLink might abandon Compass Card’s ‘tap-out’ on buses due to glitch
This is definitely a problem. Vancouver is not alone in seeing this type of project overrun, most seem overrun by years.
- TransLink’s Compass Card system struggles with another glitch
- Seattle’s transit card seems to work, why not TransLink’s Compass Card?
“The fare gates were imposed on TransLink by then Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon and [then Premier] Gordon Campbell and they did that through an unelected, unaccountable board that they also imposed on TransLink,” said NDP TransLink critic George Heyman. “So that’s where I lay the blame for the fare gates and the Compass Cards.”
In the end it seems that Cubic Transportation Systems over promised what they could deliver. And then they hired a lobbyist.
How does Translink compare to other transit authorities?
Peer Review by Seattle shows Translink as one of the most efficient authorities.
Transit referendum: Is TransLink really wasting taxpayers’ money?
How well funded is Translink?
Translink has being deeply underfunded for a while now.
Metro Vancouver’s proposed transit improvements will cost an estimated $7.5 billion over 10 years. It’s money TransLink doesn’t have; the corporation is already $5 billion in debt and barely meets its annual operating costs with existing fares and various tax-funded mechanisms.
This reminds me that as a citizen of Vancouver and of BC, to pay attention to politics both at the city and provincial level. To not trust the “facts” delivered by angry bloggers, who have no accountability, and instead to listen and to research, to discover if their comments are true or false. It is important for us to look at how Translink is held accountable, how it grows and learns both from its customers, its employees and the “Governments”. How it learns from other cities successes and failures. All of that said you cannot expect an underfunded organization to always perform well.
Innovation means getting somethings wrong
I believe that Translink is not perfect, as no human organization is. Destroying an organization ignores the fact that we as humans can learn from our mistakes, and organization are no different. Many of us have relied on the forgiveness from “our bosses” when we got wrong, to not be fired and instead to learn from our mistakes and grow. As citizens we are the boss of our public transport infrastructure. And the best “bosses” allow us for experimentation and innovation — which always comes with the risk to get it wrong. The worse bosses stay angry and persecute us for past transgressions that have now being corrected. Innovation is key to our survival and future and if we kill it with anger and mistrust, we will fail as a human race. Either way the Translink CEO was fired, how much more revenge needs to be taken?
Becoming part of the solution
I have applied to be on the Citizen Council for Transport because I want to do my part. Whether I succeed or fail I am becoming better informed! I have hope for Vancouver to become a better city as it grows. Going forward, I will pay better attention to those that serve us. I am one of those crazy people who still says thank you to the bus driver when I get off, because I appreciate the human that serves us — whether it be the bus driver, the union that protects their rights or Translink who manages our infrastructure. All three have had to do this in an environment that is underfunded and not ready for the future, because citizens have not been doing their part.
It’s time to change this and think/reflect/imagine the city we want.. become solution providers rather than just armchair critics.
UPDATE:
Holy shit smile emoticon They said yes!
“Thank you for your application for appointment to the Active Transportation Policy Council.
At its In Camera meeting on March 3, 2015. Vancouver City Council appointed you to the Active Transportation Policy Council, for a term to commence immediately and end February 28, 2017. ”
Looking forward to it smile emoticon
Articles that I found useful:
- No side reaps rewards of 30 years of anti-tax rhetoric
- Why we’re voting “yes” to new transit and transportation funding in the referendum
- The psychology of ‘no’: Vancouver transit vote is case study in why it’s so hard to do what makes us happy
- The ‘No Transit Tax’ campaign’s biggest myths on TransLink
- In a peer review conducted by Seattle, Translink was probably the most efficient agency studied: http://tinyurl.com/orn956o , http://tinyurl.com/p42vqr3, http://tinyurl.com/q7kd8ok.
- As public vote on Translink tax hike nears, skepticism and name-calling increases
- If you don’t like a sales tax hike, here’s a peek at one alternative
- More than 400,000 full buses had to skip stops last year: TransLink
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