It concerns me that the six of them have come out so publicly in favour of the LRT when there are so many issues that very much in question:
- Why got to an LRT if the existing buses have a higher capacity that the LRT will have?
- Why go to an LRT if the travel time is at best marginally better than the current bus travel times?
- Where will all the future transit passengers go given that the LRT capacity is lower the status quo?
- How will be the $10,000,000 a year additional operating deficit be funded?
- Will the LRT improve traffic in the city?
- What evidence is there property values would go up near LRT stations if the passenger volumes on the LRT can not be higher than buses currently move?
- How many transit patrons will be lost because they will have transfer in the future because of the LRT?
- How many non-LRT connected bus routes will have to be cancelled to cover the costs of the LRT operations?
The LRT is a very costly solution that will not be able to actually improve commuting in this region and will not increase the number of transit users. It is the completely wrong technology for this region and will lead to a dramatic increase in taxes needed to operate transit and a fall in total transit riders.
The only winner from a move to the LRT will be SNC Lavalin as they will be the ones that will most likely build the system. They are also the ones that wrote the report recommending the LRT, the report that is short in details and has obvious errors in it that bias it in favour of the LRT.
Today the TC has an editorial calling for an independent review of the LRT plans - this is crucial as the information BC Transit has gone forward on is clearly biased towards building rail and
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