[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

Who was the genius that decided we need to "swipe to get off"?

If I was designing the system, I'd have users "swipe in" to get on the bus - no issues with that. BUT use RFID/NFC to auto deduct when they get off the bus!

Imagine trying to get off the bus at broadway or metrotown or any other major loop. Next thing you know, buses are going to be late even more cuz 70 people offloaded at broadway and commercial! Also think about the elderly that now need to do more shit to get off the bus with their walkers.

My initial impression upon reading that riders will need to swipe departing the vehicle was the same as yours, but as I mentally pictured the line of riders swiping cards and stepping off the bus it didn't seem quite so bad. Only one or two riders are slowly getting off at a time anyway, so I don't think this will slow things down to much; only time will tell I suppose.

TransLink to charge at all park-and-rides

Free parking will end at TransLink park-and-ride lots as the authority moves to pull in more cash.

Most lots already charged, but the shift to all pay parking will come as a shock to motorists who use the 10 free lots, such as the South Surrey park-and-ride.

Other free park-and-rides include lots in Ladner and Tsawwassen in Delta; Walnut Grove in Langley; Sexsmith in Richmond; Phibbs exchange, Park Royal mall, Westmount and Gleneagles on the North Shore.

It may also mean users of the new 650-space Carvolth park-and-ride in Langley will also have to shell out to park there to take the new Highway 1 Rapid Bus.

Provincial government officials said just last week there was no plan to charge motorists there but added it would be TransLink's decision after Victoria hands over the nearly finished park-and-ride.

A minimum of $2 a day will be charged, according to TransLink's new draft 2013 plan, which was unveiled Monday.

"Prices will vary depending on the local markets," TransLink vice-president Bob Paddon said Monday. "It will bring us much needed revenues."

TransLink projects it will raise $2.2 million by charging at the free lots and raising the prices at some of the pay lots.

The South Surrey park-and-ride is already heavily overcrowded, which led TransLink this year to start towing incorrectly parked vehicles.

Paddon said imposing pay parking should give motorists much better odds of finding a space at crowded lots in the future.

The hope is that more drivers who use park and rides will simply leave their cars at home and catch feeder buses nearby to avoid the parking fees.

TransLink plans to develop more park and rides in the future, including ones to serve the Evergreen Line in Port Moody and Coquitlam.

About 3,500 of the 4,300 park-and-ride spaces TransLink controls are already pay parking.
Langley Times - TransLink to charge at all park-and-rides

I'm not sure how I feel about charging at park-and-rides overall, but if 3,500 of the 4,300 spaces already have a small daily fee it makes sense to tighten things up.

TransLink suspends improvements to Langley communities

Metro Vancouver’s once-cohesive approach to transit funding is unravelling rapidly in the wake of TransLink’s announcement Tuesday that it is immediately suspending major transit improvements for the southern suburbs.

Mayors from the two Langley municipalities say their residents are getting shafted by the Translink decision after years of paying for transit in other parts of the region with property taxes and now a new gas-tax increase.

Political process makes for a slow commute
TransLink suspends improvements to Langley communities
Mayors, TransLink grapple with $45-million transit question
“For years, the residents in the eastern part of the region have been supporting those in the west with their tax dollars,” said Township of Langley Mayor Jack Froese. “They feel all they do here is pay for the Evergreen Line with their gas taxes. To take away the funding now, it’s unacceptable. This is just playing politics. I’m extremely disappointed.”

The TransLink announcement follows a vote by the region’s 21 mayors – the two from Langley and Mayor Wayne Baldwin in White Rock opposed the move – to call for the cancellation of parts of the three-year plan. They’ve been unable to get the provincial government to agree on some form of alternative funding for the project. Last week’s vote, however, was considered informal and doesn’t legally cancel the plan.

Mr. Froese said families in Langley have bought housing near the park-and-ride lot being constructed to mesh with the planned new Highway 1 rapid bus, one of several pieces of TransLink’s three-year supplementary plan that is now being put on hold until the agency is certain is has the money to pay for them. Now those residents will be left in the lurch, he said.

The Highway 1 rapid bus was supposed to start when the new Port Mann bridge opened some time within the next year. The bridge in the $3.3-billion project includes special rapid-bus lanes, which the province’s website boasts will help get commuters from Langley to Burnaby in 25 minutes.

Other pieces of the plan that TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis said would be frozen include a rapid bus along King George Boulevard in Surrey, most of the additional 615,000 hours of service that was being planned, much of it for south of the Fraser River, extra SeaBus service on evenings and weekends, and planned upgrades to several stations.

“We don’t have [certainty]of revenue at this particular time,” said Mr. Jarvis. “We have put expansion and upgrade plans on hold.”

But Langley city Mayor Peter Fassbender also said he believes it’s unacceptable for Mr. Jarvis to make a unilateral decision to suspend the projects, without a formal vote by the mayors to revise the three-year plan.

The mayors had originally agreed to pay for the plan, which included the Evergreen Line, by approving a two-cent gas-tax increase for the Evergreen and a temporary property-tax increase for the other improvements. They did this in the hope the province would agree to replace that second tax with some other form of funding.

However, the mayors did not actually rescind that original plan, which is a legal document.

“My understanding of the legal opinion is that it has to come back for a legal vote to make a change. I’m going to ask my colleagues to put their names on the line and tell Langley residents that they’re against those projects moving ahead,” said Mr. Fassbender. “I put my name on the line for the two cents of gas tax for the Evergreen. “

He and Mr. Froese said that mayors who supported that plan originally voted for it knowing that they might not be able to work out an agreement with the province on an alternative funding source in time for 2013.

Now that that might be a reality, they’re not willing to stick to their positions, they said.

The TransLink announcement Wednesday is just the latest in a rolling series of setbacks and squabbles that have beset the organization since the start of 2012.

It hasn’t been able to get an agreement from the province about an alternative, like a regional carbon tax or vehicle levy, to pay for additional services. The province’s transportation commissioner last week denied TransLink’s application to raise fares more than the normally allowable amount to pay for the existing service level. And mayors are at odds with each other on a number of fronts.TransLink suspends improvements to Langley communities - The Globe and Mail

I'm furious about the potential cancellation of the rapid-bus route.

If the rapid-bus goes into place, it will be a game changer for transit in the Valley. No longer will a long bus ride meandering through Surrey be necessary to access the Skytrain or cross the river by transit. A direct, fast, and very practical link would finally exist. Translink it strapped for cash though, so it might be canceled. My answer to that, cut a couple Vancouver routes to make room in the budget, because this will have a much more significant impact to an area that has been paying up and receiving little in exchange for decades.

Fuck. Why even spend $54 million dollars building the new park-and-ride if the rapid-bus route is cancelled.