West End Residents Association
seeking to improve and maintain quality of life for West End residentsArchive
Category: Transportation
CHRIS CARLSSON IS COMING TO VANCOUVER!
Chris is director of the multimedia history project Shaping San Francisco and was one of the founders and editors of the San Francisco magazine Processed World
He also co-founded the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities. Carlsson has edited four books, published a novel, After the Deluge, (Full Enjoyment Books: 2004) and his most recent work is Nowtopia (AK Press: 2008).
He will be in Vancouver from June 16th – 20th as part of Car Free Vancouver Day!
Chris will be speaking about Critical Mass, pirate radio, guerrilla gardeners and the invisible revolution of everyday life that is setting the foundation to address for profound global challenges of the era, from climate change to social decay.
Car Free Vancouver Day is hosting three events with Chris:
Wednesday, June 16th : 7:00
Gordon House, 1019 Broughton St.
Co-sponsored by West End Residents Association
Thursday, June 17th : 7:00
Riddim and Spice, 1945 Commercial Drive
Co – sponsored by the Work Less Party and Gateway Sux
Saturday, June 19th : 1:00
Mt. Pleasant Community Centre, #1 Kingsway
Co-sponsored by Our Community Bikes and Momentum Magazine
After months of planning by the City of Vancouver Engineering with Translink to formulate an Olympic transportation plan VPD and VANOC and without notice and consultation shut down Robson to the #5 according to a local bus driver who updated a bus of riders this afternoon.
All though there are other reports that it was the City the closed the street to the #5 bus on recommendation from VANOC and VPD, none of this is confirmed yet.
Community Update: MLA Spencer Herbert Constituency Office
West End #5 Bus southbound / #6 westbound buses are no longer running as of 11:40 am on Tuesday February 16.
A decision was made today by Coast Mountain Bus Company and Translink to stop service on this portion of the route until the end of the Olympic period. Apparently their decision was made due to the fact that the City of Vancouver has extended the pedestrian corridor on Robson, from Thurlow to Bute. Buses that were previously turning off Thurlow onto Robson (southbound) are now unable to do so.
North/eastbound service for the #5/#6 is still in effect on the same route (Davie to Denman-to West Georgia-toPender-to Homer-to Richards-to Davie). Representatives from Translink have stated that the reason for closing the south/westbound route is due to the road closure and that it is unable to reroute the bus southbound down Georgia because the infrastructure for the trolley wires turning south off West Georgia south onto Denman does not exist. They have also stated that they are not able to place a diesel bus (non-trolley) on that route as they have no buses whatsoever to spare.
Our office has raised the question as to why this decision was made on February 16 and not in the months leading up to the Games so that residents could plan their routes and lives accordingly. West Enders were assured that their bus service would not be disrupted and that they would continue to receive service in both directions along Davie, Denman and West Georgia (parallel to Robson).
Our office met with representatives from VANOC and the City of Vancouver months prior to the Games who made these same assurances. We have also been informed by Brent Granby of WERA that their members met with Engineers from the City of Vancouver who made the same assurances. In fact one member of WERA raised the concern that the trolley infrastructure at the corner of Denman and Georgia was not in place, but no commitments were made to addressing that problem or closing the route at the beginning of the Games.
We have spoken with residents of the West End who are very upset about this change, in particular because they were promised full service and because today residents, many of them senior and some disabled persons are currently standing at bus stops without any southbound service or any indication that service has been halted.
A representative from Translink have stated that signage indicating this route closure would be up tomorrow. We raised the concern that the signage should have been put in place prior to the closure.
To view the road plan for Robson as of February 2010 consult P. 2 of the City of Vancouver’s pedestrian corridor map which shows that Robson street remains open eastbound from Thurlow to Bute.
Transportation Minister: Let Translink Introduce Road Pricing, Group Urges
Vancouver—Voters Taking Action on Climate Change (VTACC) is today calling on BC Transportation Minister Shirley Bond to give Translink the authority to introduce region wide road pricing (tolling) throughout Metro Vancouver in order to raise revenue and manage demand for single occupant vehicle (SOV) travel.
“For more than 15 years we’ve known that Metro Vancouver cannot meet its revenue, transit ridership and SOV demand management goals without introducing region wide road pricing,” says VTACC spokesperson Kevin Washbrook. “Translink has been hobbled from its inception by funding shortfalls. It has never met its goals for more busses on the road and the Evergreen Skytrain Line has been repeatedly delayed. Translink needs this new source of revenue as soon as possible.”
Translink currently faces a $450 million dollar shortfall in revenue needed to fund its transit system expansion plan. Minister Bond will soon meet with Translink’s mayors to search for “efficiencies” in the system and to consider further increases in transit fares, regional property taxes and gas taxes to fund this expansion. VTACC argues that system wide road pricing should be one of the key options under discussion at this meeting, and that transit expansion plans will not be met without it.
“How many efficiencies can you find in a system that has been under-funded since its creation? “ asks Washbrook. “If Translink is forced to delay transit system expansion, or, worse yet, cut back on transit service, what will Minister Bond say to the people who wait at bus stops while full busses pass them by in the morning?”
Currently, Translink’s enabling legislation only allows it to introduce road tolls for cost recovery on new transportation infrastructure. VTACC is calling on Minister Bond to amend this legislation to give Translink full authority to introduce region-wide road tolling as a source of revenue and a demand management tool.
“Road pricing is essentially a user-pay system for car drivers,” says VTACC Director and UBC Professor of Economics David Green. “By putting a price on the use of roads, Translink could both raise revenue for transit system expansion, and more effectively manage demand for use of the road system. Road tolls could be higher during periods of peak congestion, and carpoolers could travel for free. These steps would encourage people to drive less, and to switch from SOV’s to carpooling and transit.”
“Charging drivers to use the roads makes more sense than increasing property taxes to pay for our transportation system,” Green says. “Also, it is only fair that we ask drivers to pay their share before we introduce further increases in transit fares. Metro Vancouver has some of the highest transit fares in the country – that’s not equitable, nor will it encourage people to get out of their cars and onto the bus and Skytrain.”
Green went on to raise two other key points: “We need to ensure that any new pricing system minimises impacts on those who can least afford it,” he said, “and that the governing body given the authority to set pricing levels is fully accountable to the public.”
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Contact:
Kevin Washbrook, VTACC Director, 778.848.8278,
David Green, UBC Economist, 604.230.6802
www.vtacc.org
Former WERA director Terry Lavender was quoted in a story in the West Ender on pedestrian issues.
Lavender said: “[The City of Vancouver] has a Bicycle Advisory Committee, so why not somebody for pedestrians, especially since pedestrians are supposed to come first under the Downtown Transportation Plan?” says West End Residents Association (WERA) spokesperson Terry Lavender. “People who are walking are still traffic; they’re still trying to get to their destination. But if you treat them as an obstacle and not part of the traffic flow, they tend to be ignored.”
He also said: “Pedestrian life makes a city more vital because when people are at a walking pace, you are in contact with your fellow human beings. If everybody’s in their cars, or even if everybody’s on their bicycles, you’re going at high speeds. You’re not making eye contact with people, and there is no chance for those random encounters that add so much to the life of the city.”
This article by former WERA director Terry Lavender originally appeared in the Vancouver Observer:
In a recent article in The Province, SFU transportation researcher Anthony Perl says Vancouver needs a pedestrian advocate. I agree. According to the Downtown Transportation Plan, which the City adopted seven years ago, pedestrians are the first priority for the City, followed by cyclists, transit and then private vehicles. The Plan (available here: vancouver.ca/dtp/dtpfinalplan.htm) recommends that the City “Provide pedestrians greater priority through pedestrian activated traffic signals, wider sidewalks, elimination of “delayed walk” at intersections, mid-block crossings and landscaped medians.” Yet, seven years on, it is difficult to discern how this has been implemented in practice. Consider: continue reading…
