Here’s a VanCity Buzz piece by Kenneth Chan, dated July 2013. Yup, a year ago:
REALITY CHECK: Why is SkyTrain breaking down so frequently?
There is no question that SkyTrain breakdowns have been happening far more frequently over the last few weeks and months, particularly with the Expo Line. Yesterday morning’s failure was the second time this month a malfunction led to major delays across the SkyTrain network. …
However, there is only so much that can be done on a system that is clearly wearing down with age and restrained from undergoing the improvements necessary with its severe lack in funding. …
Prior to the recent strings of power rail service disruption incidents, TransLink already recognized that a major replacement of the Expo Line’s aging power rails was needed. In November 2012, TransLink began a $33-million project to replace 34-kms of power rails on the Expo Line between Nanaimo and Scott Road Stations.
The replacement project is well underway and occurs during off-peak and weekend service hours. It is scheduled for a late-2014 completion given the limited timeframe available for construction to be done. When complete, power rail related service disruptions should disappear along this route. …
For a system of the Expo Line’s size and ridership, its high frequencies (made possible by automation) of every 2-3 minutes during most operating hours are rare. And when there is higher usage, there is more wear and tear. Plainly explained, Vancouverites are spoiled when it comes to frequency, whereas many American and Australian rapid transit rail systems run manually driven trains that come every 10-30 minutes during the day (with longer trains to compensate, of course). This would be unacceptable in Vancouver.
But wait, on that note of trains and the issue of wear and tear, do we not have almost 30-year old trains running on SkyTrain? Why have those not broken down? Well actually, the original SkyTrain vehicles from 1984 and 1986 are nearing their life expectancy. More importantly, TransLink acknowledged this and announced last year that $36.6-million would be spent on refurbishing these 114 original SkyTrain vehicles to allow for another 15 years of reliable service before expensive replacement. The process to refit the original “Mark I” vehicles began earlier this spring.
There’s lots more here – maybe too much. In a media world of sound bites and blog posts (guilty!), this long-form signal gets lost in the noise.
I’d emphasize a point, though, that has stuck with me every time I listen to the traffic reports on radio during rush hour: System failure on our roads is the normal state of affairs. There are helicopters in the air to give you live images of the accidents, back-ups and delays. The political response is typically to call for more money to be spent on more and wider roads.
But a system failure on SkyTrain may well justify the call to give it less resources unless and until it performs flawlessly.
It may not be fair, but it’s the way it is. The more reliable the technology, the less tolerant we are of its failure.
great highlighting of a huge double standard “System failure on our roads is the normal state of affairs.” and nobody’s calling for less funding!!!
I am speaking only from memory so I can be wrong. I believe there are regular (yearly?) reports likely funded by car insurance companies that reveal a large number of vehicles on the roads today are not maintained as well as you would expect. These reports usually go on to attribute poorly maintained vehicles as a sizable cause of congestion in the form of breakdowns (i.e. breakdowns) and accidents.(i.e. a driver couldn’t stop in time due to worn out breaks)
The double standard does seem weird to me, though I suspect the difference is because motorists blame the roads rather than other parts of the equation.
In the SkyTrain model, all of the funding for the system comes from (or is perceived by citizens to come from) the government. In their eyes if the government would rather dole the money out to executives rather than properly maintain the system they feel a practical solution is cutting the funding. Of course, you need executives to manage a system like SkyTrain and cutting the funding won’t cut the executive salaries. Bye bye maintenance, expansion, and improvements.
In the car model, some of the funding for the system comes from the government in the form of building and maintaining roads. Nearly all of the other funding — the vehicles, the licensing, the insurance, the maintenance, comes from the people using the system. I think in this model most users forget they are the smallest fraction of the whole but together the users make up most of the costs that never appear on any balance sheet. As the government is the largest single contributor to the system most people call on them to build more roads or whatever. You never hear of people calling for others to better maintain their cars or buy new ones that work better, have better safety systems, or even take up less room per person.
Fun note. Lions Gate bridge completely closed due to crash. System failure or just cost of doing business…
Reblogged this on Talking Auckland and commented:
A note when you do not fund something properly.
Also shows the paradox between roads and public transport.
That is if the road fails you throw more money at it. If public transport fails you punish it and take away its money it needs to prevent the failures