Category — Transit

The “value for money” audit of Translink by the Auditor General, demanded by the regional Mayor’s Council in their first post-election meeting Jan. 18, looks like the first salvo in the latest struggle over new sources of transportation funding.

New funding is necessary if the region is to avoid a further property tax increase next year to pay for transit expansion, including the Evergreen Line.

Victoria is already celebrating construction of the Evergreen Line in advance of the upcoming Port Moody by-election, but the mayors, led by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and Surrey Mayor Diane Watts, don’t think they can get taxpayers to agree to a new source of funds if they don’t have proof the money will be well-spent.

No doubt Translink will agree to seek the audit, the provincial Auditor General will conduct it, and the real debate will begin. The mayors meet again today to consider all options.

Will it be carbon tax? Vehicle levy, anyone? Area-benefitting tax? Regional bridge tolls? Time will tell.

Bolstered by the findings of a new study by Sauder School of Business Prof. Garland Chow, Vancouver’s taxi firms are seeking approval for 99 additional cabs to operate in Vancouver on weekends and special event nights. (Here’s an executive summary circulated to Vancouver city councillors last week.)

That’s well above the 65 additional cabs approved last year by Victoria’s Passenger Transportation Board on a trial basis. The Vancouver Taxi Association says Chow’s findings are so conclusive that the firms are seeking an extension of the 65-cab trial program until the full 99 taxis are approved. According to the report, the temporary permits reduced wait times and increased customer satisfaction substantially.

Under the program, the additional capacity is available Friday and Saturday nights, when customers have reported serious problems finding taxis prepared to take them out of the downtown core.

(Mayor Gregor Robertson is also urging Translink to consider expanded night bus and Skytrain service to help with the problem.)

Translink’s skyrocketing ridership, now five percent higher than the 2010 Olympics surge, is pushing up fare revenue even as fuel tax revenue declines.

But it’s a two cents a litre lift in fuel tax which is the key to funding transit expansion, including construction of the Evergreen Line. Will fuel tax deliver the cash, or will drivers shift to cheaper and greener alternatives — like moving downtown — that don’t produce tax revenues to build transit?

Victoria transit analyst Todd Littman argues that assumptions about fuel tax, tolls and the like  need to be challenged. As incomes stagnate and demographics shift, small increases in fuel tax can produce larger shifts in consumption.

So a new tax may be very effective in reducing congestion, he argues, but not produce sufficient income to fund new roads . . . or transit.

Response to the City of Vancouver’s invitation to imagine a new future for the Georgia Viaducts and East False Creek Flats has generated an overwhelming response, with more than 100 responses from 13 countries.

Now it’s the public’s turn to vote on their favourite proposal — including the “do nothing” option — before the city unveils the winners picked by a panel of eminent judges. The “people’s choice” award and the judges’ verdict will be revealed Dec. 1.

Although 60 percent of the competitors are local and 75 percent from Metro Vancouver, others weighed from as far afield as Hong Kong, Mexico and Slovenia.

According to planning director Brent Toderian, “submissions range from the beautification of the viaducts, to their re-use as open space or other uses, or their partial or complete removal and replacement.

“The visions range from the practical and pragmatic, to the futuristic and whimsical. Submitters appeared to be inspired by everything from water and nature, to our urban past and current housing challenges, to volcanoes, horses, corn-dogs, and knitting yarn!”

Remember, voting closes in one week: please cast your ballot and invite your friends to do the same.