This week I attended a conference in Squamish. It was no big deal, except that I drove to Richmond (Lansdowne Square), took the Canada Line to Waterfront, followed by the Sea Bus to North Vancouver, and then I hitched a ride with a friend from Aldergrove who was going to the same conference. He had driven over the new Port Mann Bridge enroute.
This journey got me thinking about transit, and about TransLink's need for more and more cash each year, and to its latest attempt to tax our parking to which our mayor has valiantly said: "no way."
A week ago Malcolm Johnston's letter to the editor set out the financial pressures in which TransLink finds itself. As Johnston has pointed many times, the choice of the technology of SkyTrain (Millennium and Canada lines are similar) has imbedded us with high annual costs and high fixed costs. It may be great technology but the costs of construction and of operation are high - perhaps higher than we want.
Each of these lines was a provincial decision with federal subsidies. Each now requires significant cost contributions from the province that is keen to download to the municipal level - meaning you and me. By adding the Evergreen Line out to Coquitlam, the allocated costs may become unbearable for us.
As I used all the wonderful public transit through Richmond, Vancouver and North Vancouver, I thought: "Why not tax the bridges where transit is best?" After all, if they are benefiting, why not have them pay the piper while we line up for the George Massey Tunnel? Why should we pay gas and property taxes when the proceeds fund buses and SkyTrains elsewhere?
So how about a campaign to place tolls on the Granville and Burrard bridges? How about tolls on the Lions Gate and Second Narrows bridges? We have the technology as it is now being introduced on the Port Mann Bridge after a successful test run on the Golden Ears Bridge.
We don't have to tax the folks from Point Grey $3 like the Port Mann Bridge to cross the Burrard Bridge, but how about $1 for every crossing? Bikes might be charged 50 cents if they have a decal, otherwise 65 cents. How about $1.50 for a car to cross First or Second Narrows?
How do we get out of this mess? Once again Johnston's letters provide insight. His earlier letters pointed to Calgary's LRT (modern day street cars) as being a reasonable and lower cost alternative to providing this service.
In my journeys to London, England, I remind myself that the Underground started in 1863 with steam engines. Over the years, as volume demanded it, the various lines have been expanded and upgraded - to Europe's third busiest system today.
While TransLink gets only 34 per cent of its income from fares, the London Underground gets 86 per cent and its fares are comparable to ours!
We could do worse than taxing those who benefit while looking for cheaper alternatives for a problem that needs a better solution.
