Transit Money

So I'm back to working the normal 9-5 shift, which means that I got a chance to chat with people who took transit out of Langley during the Pattullo Bridge outage. Apparently the bus was crazy packed out of Langley City for the whole week. Usually the bus gets packed once you get into Surrey. Also, the SkyTrain was packed as well. I posted earlier that I almost got killed on the escalator at King George SkyTrain station during Christmas due to overcrowding. Well all last week, due to the extra riders and today, there is now a friendly voice announcement that tells people to move to away from the escalator to the edge of the platforms. It even thanks them for riding SkyTrain at King George.

All this is to say that the major bus routes and SkyTrain are already packed in Metro Vancouver during peak times, so it was no surprise to me that transit didn’t see huge gains in riders last week. There is no room. This really brings home the point that transit service is under funded. I know that I can hear people say that it’s because of SkyTrain, and that’s true. But we are stuck with the SkyTrain that we currently have, and still have to pay for it and for improved all transit service.

With the federal budget coming out, it will be interesting to see if there will be any new money for transit and other sustainable ventures. The economic crisis has given the Federal government the chance to spend like crazy. I hope that they spend money by investing in the future of a green Canada and a new green economy, and not just waste it on dying industries. As I’ve said before, the federal government needs to setup a sustainable funding program just for transit (and of course other infrastructure.) Anyway, we’ll see…