Daryl Dela Cruz, a one-man transit advocate for Surrey (why does South of the Fraser have so many young, passionate transit advocates?) has done an infographic he thinks will cause a bit of controversy.
It starts with this:
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And ends with this:
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Go here to see the part in between – and whether you think Daryl has made his case.
I mentioned this infographic to a friend who argued that the value of long-distance transit is overestimated since most people fall within the smallest category of travel distance. This new graph (http://www.ams.ubc.ca/2013/04/ubc-broadway-line-study-shows-nearly-half-of-ubc-commuters-come-from-outside-vancouver/) from the AMS makes a convincing argument about the benefit of how short distance transit improvements benefit the wider region.
In addition to dealing with capacity issues, I would say that rapid transit is aimed at those who need to travel over longer distances – so as to reduce the overall travel time to a bearable length.
Ultimately, if current transit is tolerable in terms of duration or walking / cycling alternatives (i.e. short distance travel), it doesn’t need rapid transit. That’s why the West End does not have rapid transit.