Posts from — June 2010

In this morning’s Sun, my reply to a recent correspondent with City Council who proposes bike lane tolls to stop road freeloading by cyclists. The Dunsmuir St. bike lane opens this morning, by the way.

The hugely-popular Canada Line is nowhere near its capacity to carry travellers to and from future development along Cambie, according to Translink.

Former NPA Park Commissioner Bill McCreery argued last week that the train is so full it would be folly to build more development near stations like Marine Drive and Oakridge.

But Translink says there’s lots of room to expand Canada Line service. In a note to the Mayor’s Council, Peggy Hunt, manager of government relations, says the line currently can handle 10,640 passengers per hour, north and south combined, using 14 of the 20, two-car gtrain sets between 6.30 a.m and 7 p.m  More trains can be added at peak periods.

In August, 2011,  time between trains in daytime service (6.30 a.m. to 7 p.m.) will be reduced to 3.33 minutes from 3.75 minutes, increasing peak service capacity to 12,020 per hour. (These calculations assume 334 passengers per car.)

With even more trains and increased trip frequency, that number could rise to 30,000 passengers per hour, north and south combined.

Montreal cyclists wait to cross Stanley on the De Maisonneuve bike route earlier this month. The bike lane accomodates two-way cycle traffic in one lane of the busy one-way thoroughfare.

City workers were putting the final touches today on the new Dunsmuir St. bike lanes, set to open June 15 as the next phase of the city’s crosstown cycle lane installations. Cyclists were already using the new route as crews hosed down the final sections near Burrard.

Similar lanes have been in place in Montreal for two years, providing a vital safe route through the busiest part of the downtown core on De Maisonneuve. Good thing, too: tangling with Montreal drivers is not for the faint of heart.

A rare piece of unqualified good news for public transit and students: a universal transit pass province-wide for all post-secondary students.

Today’s announcement by Premier Gordon Campbell delivers on his pre-election promise for a universal pass and is a huge win for student activists, particularly at Vancouver’s Vancouver Community College and Emily Carr University.

They kept up good-humoured but unceasing pressure on Campbell and Transporation Minister Shirley Bond — on Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and even with a giant pink cake — to deliver on the pledge.