Quote:
Originally Posted by inv4zn
Anybody remember when buses use to have those tear-away tickets?
Admittedly, I was way too young to know anything back then, but Translink wasn't in this big of a mess back then.
Just like everything else in this city, they did not plan for the future. This city's infrastructure and everything associated is filled to the brim, and we are now starting to see the results.
PACKED buses that can't take on any passengers during busy times. One of the worst congested roads in North America. Tax on a gas tax with some more gas tax, to pay along with your gas tax. 5 bloody bridges, in a city that can very well use 20.
Even the construction that's going on now, not just the Highway 1, but all the ongoing projects and lane widenings, should have been done 10 years ago. The work that's being done now will be sufficient for now, 5-10-20 years later? same story again.
It's so fucking simple. Create a long-term plan, and set realistic budgets. Collect the needed revenue in a reasonable manner, that isn't going to upset the entire province (re: HST). Use said money appropriately, and while doing so, plant a POSITIVE image in the voter's minds, so that we don't feel like the government is robbing from us and everything they do is wrong.
If politicians, and in turn, the population, got their heads out of their asses and worked collectively, we wouldn't have these messes. This also should have been done 10 years ago.
And in a related rant, to those who keep saying "this doesn't relate to me, I don't care", fuck you. You live in this city, and even though you may be too ignorant to realize it, everything is related. You're just as bad as the ones who don't vote because "it isn't going to matter."
/rant
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I don't think its transportation planners that lacked foresight, like you said its the politicians with their heads up their asses.
Translink did not exist until 1998, around the time the tear tickets were replaced, when Translink was created by the province it took on much more responsibility than the organization it replaced (BC Transit).
Skytrain for the most part (Millennium and Expo) was designed for the future, see the length of the platform versus the length of trains (ignoring the poor design of station flow), the location of the stations, etc... Metrotown was nothing back then, Joyce was nothing, Brentwood, Renfrew Business park, Lougheed.
Now thats ignoring the serious lack of development around 29th, Nanaimo, Edmonds, Rupert, and many stations surrounded by single family homes, but in general nothing to do with Translink.
The concept of the Canada Line was the planned in the 80s, but killed with successive provincial governments.
The concept of the Evergreen and UBC Line were planned extensions of the existing Millennium Line, but again killed by successive provincial governments.
P3 development of Canada Line to minimum specs, politicians must love being able to say the Canada Line has exceeded ridership.
Its the same old shit with the Province's Highway 1 upgrades, other than the Port Mann and the Cape Horn interchange, the systems is being designed mickey-mouse. Look at the elimination of the Grandview Highway interchange from the plans, or the inadequate length of on-ramps.