Cambie-area businesses to proceed with TransLink lawsuit

Members of the Cambie Village Business Association have voted to proceed with their lawsuit against TransLink for damages caused by construction of the $2-billion Canada Line rapid-transit project.
Because of the complexity of the case, theatre owner Leonard Schein of the association said a decision was made to go with two law firms, Arvay Finlay and [...]

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Federal funding for public transit

According to recent news reports, the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation has asked chair Dianne Watts to press transportation minister Kevin Falcon over the transit authorities need for more funding from senior governments as they can no longer go back to residents for increased funding via levies or increased taxes. 
One potential source of funding at [...]

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Leinberger on walkable urbanism and public transit in Vancouver

Christopher Leinberger, author of The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, writes about walkable urbanism and public transit in Vancouver in an article for the latest issue of BC Business magazine. 
While Leinberger praises Vancouver for the steps it has taken to date in creating a walkable urban city, he points out that we still have [...]

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Support the #33 bus route down 16th Ave

Representatives from Translink and the City of Vancouver will be at a meeting this evening to address concerns about the proposed new route down 16th Ave from Cambie to UBC. We’ll be attending to show our support for the new #33 line, and to let TransLink know that folks who actually use public transit [...]

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Rising Gas Prices and Changing Transportation Patterns

Do rising gas prices have an effect on travel patterns? Are we seeing behavioural shifts associated with the higher price of gas?
According to recent news stories (see here, here, and here), the answer is yes. And a recent TransLink press release has statistics showing an increase in transit ridership in Metro Vancouver, with 3.7% more [...]

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Surrey to relocate Newton bus loop to King George Highway

As part of a long-term effort to fight crime in Newton, TransLink has purchased a 10-acre site fronting King George Highway for a new bus exchange. The current bus loop is plagued with problems with street crime.
Mayor Dianne Watts said the city has been pressing the transit authority to address the problems associated with the [...]

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TransLink orders third SeaBus

Translink has signed an agreement with the Washington Marine Group to build a third SeaBus to ferry passengers between Vancouver and the North Shore.
The new SeaBus will cost $25 million. 
A date of July 24, 2009 has been set for the new vessel’s launch, but SeaBus frequency won’t increase until 2010 as the new SeaBus will initially fill in for [...]

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Ladner wins NPA nomination for Vancouver Mayoral race

Peter Ladner has won the NPA (Non-Partisan Association) mayoralty nomination for the November civic election, defeating Vancouver’s current mayor, Sam Sullivan for the NPA party nomination. The vote was close: 1,066 votes for Ladner and 986 for Sullivan.
What’s Ladner’s position on transit? Here’s his vision as stated on his website :
A Mobile City

Enhanced mobility depends on [...]

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Bus (mis)adventures March 5-7

My daily commute via public transit continues to be a shining example of bad public transit. Over the past three days, I’ve:
- ridden on two ancient buses without fareboxes! These have been apparently been pulled from the scrap heap to cover the shortage caused by the crappy broken trolley buses. Let’s hope Translink gets that fixed before the [...]

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