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Transit referendum won’t be until spring 2015 at the earliest

June 27th, 2014 · 42 Comments

Mayors decided yesterday that holding it at the same time as the November election is just too early and would likely sideline a crucial group of voters — university and college students. Story here.

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TransLink snapshot: Budget trimmed, ridership dips, population growing, no money to expand

May 29th, 2014 · 121 Comments

We all trekked out to Surrey (sign of where the next major rapid-transit project will go?) yesterday to hear TransLink officials talk about the annual general report on the agency. These TransLink events are always kind of sad experience. To the rest of the world, TransLink is a roaring success — about to have more […]

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Is the Canada Line at maximum capacity? No. Will it be in a decade? Depends on …

April 22nd, 2014 · 108 Comments

For the last year, every time I’ve gone to a public hearing or meeting about development, I’ve heard people fret about how there’s not enough capacity to absorb the new people who will be coming with the developments. Not enough schools, hospital space, parks, libraries, you name it. And it used to be that, along […]

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No nays recorded for this move to improved horse-and-carriage transit in Stanley Park

March 26th, 2014 · 3 Comments

Okay, we all needed a break from the heavy stuff of the week. Here it is, the saga of the horse-and-carriage terminal at Stanley Park. Please excuse the terrible pun in the headline, but it was irresistible. (Thank you, Stan Dellarocca at the Globe’s editing desk, for the suggestion.)

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Transit referendum is making business groups cranky too

January 21st, 2014 · 7 Comments

This just out from the Surrey Board of Trade, who don’t sound like happy campers The Surrey Board of Trade wants the Transit Referendum question now. “I’ve called the Ministry of Transportation today and they indicated that there was no timeline on when the transit referendum question will be ready. I’ve written a letter asking […]

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Mayors say transit referendum could hijack civic elections if held same day

January 14th, 2014 · 172 Comments

The problems in staging this ‘let’s wing it’ referendum just keep going on and on. The latest.

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What would happen if everyone got together and decided to come up with the money for transit utopia?

April 1st, 2013 · 54 Comments

This was a deliberately provocative article, so I’m expecting lots of challenges. Yes, there are many other futures that can be detailed (built $23 billion in transit and had no money left for anything else, is one I’m sure will turn up here). I found out a lot more about some of the details as […]

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Vancouver mayor gets on board a campaign to push for Broadway subway line, with public meeting (rally?) scheduled for Sunday

March 9th, 2013 · 52 Comments

Suddenly, the Broadway line is front and centre. After several years of not saying too much, Vancouver has really built up a head of steam the last couple of months (sorry for that bad pun and more to come) championing a Broadway subway line. Here’s my story from last week with the mayor and the […]

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Mayors turn to previously neglected revenue as potential source for TransLink funding: a .5 per cent sales tax

February 6th, 2013 · 45 Comments

As mayors continue to press the provincial government to come up with some kind of solution for funding that will allow TransLink to expand services, the chair of the mayors’ council sent out an open letter yesterday with suggestions for short-term and long-term funding solutions. Short-term: – 0.5 per cent sales tax, which would pull […]

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UBC anxiety ramps up at talk of a two-phase approach to building Broadway rapid-transit line

November 27th, 2012 · 159 Comments

Council heard an update today from its engineers on plans for the line which answers some of these questions. I’ll be posting that story later. In the meantime, here’s what I had today And, for keen readers, here is belatedly the story that came out of council on the city’s position re the Broadway line. […]

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