Johnny Carline was the former chief administrative officer of Metro Vancouver. He’s now retired – and hence able to speak more freely. Which he does in this piece by Charlie Smith in The Georgia Straight: Lower Mainland mayors seek funding for transit expansion.
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Over the phone with the Straight, he concisely summarizes the challenges facing TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis in deciding between Vancouver and Surrey.
“If transit investment comes in $1-billion or $2-billion chunks, where do I want to spend my next chunk?” Carline asks rhetorically. “Do I want to spend it in the fastest-growing area for both employment and residential in the Lower Mainland, [which] is accessible…on all four sides? Or do I want to spend it in an area that is not intended to grow, has got water on three sides, and has a sort of crème de la crème belt on the fourth side, which makes it fairly difficult to densify, relative to Surrey?”
Carline notes that in Vancouver, this “crème de la crème” element will make it exceedingly difficult to command street space for surface-level light rail. At the same time, Carline recognizes a business case for investing in enhanced transportation to UBC, though he characterizes the argument of an employment hub in Central Broadway as a “red herring”.
“So if you’re cynical and smart, you’ll probably look at the underground option,” he says. “It still offers you an operating-cost advantage. You get rid of some of the immediate development impacts, but all the financial wheels probably fall off.” …
Carline says the numbers aren’t very pleasant in the near term for Surrey council’s preferred option, either. “The problem in Surrey is it’s growing like crazy, but it’s not all in one corridor,” he states. “So the business case for any one line is weaker. Long term, it’s going to make bags of financial sense. In the short term, it’s not.”
More here.
If Johnny Carline was at the helm of the greater London,
people could be still w waiting for the crossrail and the argument on an employment cluster at the city could be dismissed as a red herring.
If Johnny Carline was at the helm of the greater Paris, the new towns, like Cergy-Pontoise could have shiny LRTs, but the RER, could be not existing, and the map could be looking like here :http://voony.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/what-if/ …The employment cluster the Defense is could be dismissed as a red herring
But well in those cities, numbers of economist could certainly disagree with Mr Carline…
Someone before mentioned apropos the “Wide economic Benefit” of the London Crossrail, I guesss he was referring to the Economies of agglomeration, the reason why cities exist in the first place…and the rational behind investment like Crossrail in London, RER (which is still work in progress with line E, and other metro line) in Paris which growth potential is basically Zero…the rational also for Job cluster
the rational also why Zurich as a S-bahn, Sydney a metro-rail….
We wish a good and well deserved retirement to Mr Carline,..
Excellent comments.
And I might add – that Mr. Carline was an unelected adminstrator for GVRD, selected / appointed by the GVRD Board.
I read mr. Carline’s comments more as a statement about what he views as the current political reality rather than an attack on the Broadway or Surrey options. That said I am more inclined to put an investment in an area we know has the demand rather than attempting to use it to shape growth. In an ideal world we would build Broadway and all three Surrey corridors. Lets try and make it an ideal world.
> though he characterizes the argument of an employment hub in Central Broadway as a “red herring”.
There’s lots of data that suggests creating employment clusters in Regional Town Centres is even harder. To this day Coquitlam, Metrotown, and Surrey are all underperforming targets with regard to employment. I don’t see Broadway as a red herring but actually a huge opportunity to create another critical employment mass.
6. Broadway and
Commercial
This intersection is a key transit transfer
point for SkyTrain and several buses. A
second Light Rapid Transit line, the
Broadway Line, is now under study by
the Region and Province and will also
have a station at this location. More
detailed studies, including public input,
are upcoming.
Kensington-Cedar Cottage Community Vision July 21 1998
(Surrey s accessible on all four sides?… It too has a sort of crème de la crème belt on the fourth side)
Guest – I’m not sure of your point. All administrators are appointed, whatever government level they are at.. Mr. Carline happens to have been one of if not the most qualified administrator the Greater Vancouver area has seen in recent decades, with senior level planning and management positions in a number of municipalities, including Vancouver and Richmond, as well as elsewhere. He served Metro with distinction, IMO.
The problem most people around the region have with preesnt Metro governance is there is no directly elected and politically accountable board. That, and total confusion over roles and funding with the province. Elected officials shouldn’t also be expected to also run the affairs of all the departments on a day-to-day basis. (Having said that, the very unusual if not unique elected commissioner model the City of Portland has does offer an alternative to this general truism, at least in Canada.)