Vancouver BC: Worst Traffic Jam in North America

[Timpo]

Originally Posted by Splinter

Um, toyko's population is 3 times bigger than all of BC combined. that's a stupid comparison.

Why the hell would you need a bullet train in Vancouver?

No I don't think it's a stupid comparison.

Tokyo Area: 2,188 km²
Greater Vancouver Area: 2,700 km²

So Vancouver is larger and has much less public transit (subway, skytrain, etc).
Public transit must be useful in order for people to actually use them.
Wherever it takes you, it needs to be very close to your destination.

Look, the result is, Vancouver has the biggest traffic jam in North America despite the population being much less than Tokyo.

[Splinter]

Well it is a stupid comparison, so you're wrong.

It's larger, sure. But it has 1/15th the population. So it needs way less transit. I take transit just about everywhere, I only drive a few times per month. I have no problem getting around.

But given the intellectual prowess you display on these forums, I'm not surprised you can't figure out how to work public transportation. To be honest I'd be surprised if you can dress yourself and find your way out your front door each morning without written directions.

The reason people don't use transit here is because public transportation has a negative connotation. People are big on appearances and taking the bus makes you look bad. It's a social problem, not an infrastructure problem.

A huge part of the problem with vancouver when it comes to traffic is its geographical location. It's spread over 3 major waterways, which make for massive choke points.

[falcon]

Oh get off your high horse. Transit here SUCKS. You can not compare it to any real city in the world especially Tokyo. If you think our transit is good, I suggest doing some traveling. It works... yes... BUT is no in any way the most efficient way to get anywhere around here unless you live on the skytrain line.

For example I live in Surrey and I need to go to the ferry. Google says it will take 2.5 hours with 3 transfers and a detour to Bridgeport. You can not tell me that this is a good way to get around. It takes me 30mins. to drive there...

Any "real" world class city would already have this figured out. It does not make sense that for anyone east of the Fraser takes 2+ hours to get to the airport or ferry. Hell, it takes me 1.5 hours to get downtown. 30 min bus and the WHOLE expo line.

We need the equivelant of the "S Bahn" like in Germany here or Light Rail. Express type skytrain with less stops to bring people from outlying areas into the city quickly. And the the "U Bahn" is the normal skytrain that has stops every 20 seconds.

[Splinter]

Surrey to the ferry is not a path people take to get into the city so I'm not sure what you're getting at there.

Transit in Vancouver is setup for getting people from suburbs to the city, not from one suburb to the other.

How many people commute from surrey to the ferries every day? Not many.

People already complain about the huge taxes we pay to support transit, how do you suggest that they add in bullet trains and express routes that take your exact commute into consideration without doubling or tripling what we pay now?

How do you silence all the NIMBYs who don't want an express train built next to their house?

Lets hear some solutions.

[Cman333]

Originally Posted by gars

Tokyo old city limits: 9 Million
Tokyo Metropolis: 13 Million
Tokyo Major Metropolitan Area: 31.5 Million (50km), 35 Million (70km)

Tokyo is one of the densest cities in the world. Their major metropolitan area has just as large a population as Canada.

It's crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy there.

Traffic stops for thousands to cross a crosswalk. You don't believe until you see it first hand. Being that there's so many people in Tokyo its amazing how well traffic flows.

[icemiko]

According to Google Map, it should take 30 min for me to drive to work every morning, in reality it takes 1 hr!

[brute_4s]

they actually compared us in a bigger study that included south america too. and we ranked number 3. behind 2 cities in brazil that have population in the 10 to 25 million ppl range. much more than vancouver.