Quote:
Originally Posted by Yodamaster
I'm fairly sure that people asked the same question when prompted with the possibility of a space program.
While it is not the space program, the lack of service elsewhere does not make service here any less important or worthwhile.
You're forgetting that cabs are expensive, if transit ran throughout the night, a lot of people would resort to taking transit over cabs, offsetting the costs associated with running them all night due to the increased volume of riders.
Now, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I do see a lot of people taking cabs after 1AM.
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I'm not forgetting that at all if you'll look a single post up. But two things
A) The skytrain is not a fucking space program. It is not an ambitious multibillion (trillion?) dollar program designed to do something that has never been done before in the name of great scientific advances. It's a way to get from A to B. There are several alternatives, and if worst REALLY came to worst, I could walk home from downtown. Sure, it'd be about 16 kilometres...but that's the fucking seawall. People walk that
for fun. And yes, I realize that not everybody lives "as close" to DT as I do...but if you're going drinking, make a fucking plan. It's not like all our options aren't out in front of us.
B) Expensive cab fares are a completely different problem from 24/7 transit. You think that making skytrain run 24/7 will make cabs cheaper? Or that there's really a shadowy secret Taxi Lobby keeping Translink from operating 24/7? No. The simple fact is that taxi drivers are charging the provincial maximum, and would rather take fares at that price rather than lower their prices.
Honestly, I think taxi services would face a great boon if they operated in the opposite of transit--cut fares during Translink peak time and raise them during off times. They'd most likely get more customers....but like I said. Taxi fares are a completely different beast than the skytrain. While it's good to look at "completely systemic transit infrastructure", we're talking Translink. And Translink doesn't control taxi fares.
-edit-
Also, just wanted to add. After the skytrain is done, there are plenty of Night busses that run parallel to the skytrain lines, or that run to the main stations: N9 Coquitlam station(3:09), N10 Richmond(4:09), N19 Surrey Central(3:30), N24 Upper Lonsdale(3:25). And the numbers in brackets are when they leave DT. Most transit resumes at 5AM or so (6ish on a Sunday), so really we're looking at about 2-3 hours of downtime tops.