Metropolis magazine rates the world’s cities. No. 1?
Why? In part, because …
Transit remains a huge issue. Toronto has not kept up with demand, but that’s changing in a flurry of projects that will extend the subway to suburban municipalities north of the city. There’s also the Eglinton Crosstown, a 12-mile light-rail line now under construction that will provide 100 million rides annually when it’s completed in 2023. Meanwhile, the long-awaited express train connecting downtown Toronto to Pearson International Airport began operation in early June.
And …
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Meanwhile, we’re in denial. Or at least in Richmond:
Last year, according to ICBC data, the city added roughly 10,000 registered passenger vehicles to its roads.
In 2013, the city had about 100,000 passenger vehicles and by the end of 2014 that number ballooned to 110,000, as a result of development and a growing population.
Of all Metro Vancouver municipalities, Richmond’s numbers spiked the most (Burnaby, Surrey and Vancouver saw no change).
In the wake of regional transit funding hitting a concrete barrier — due to the failed TransLink plebiscite — the direction in which Richmond’s transit plan is heading should be a concern for residents, according to retired transportation planner and former Richmond resident Stephen Rees. …
The problem for Richmond is that TransLink is reducing services to bus lines that are not frequently used, Rees said. …
Spokesperson Ted Townsend downplayed the impact of the failed plebiscite.
“The recent plebiscite results may indicate slower pace of investments in transit improvements for the time being but the City believes it will not affect our ultimate goal and strategy over the longer term,” said Townsend.
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People really can’t believe that Vancouver turned down transit. (Try telling a No voter that and watch the reaction.) Perhaps a drop in our ranking on various livability lists might bring reality home.
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UPDATE: Jean Chong recommends reading this: “The Tories on big-city transit: Buy support now, pay later.”
And Doug Clarke recommends this: “Governors of Transit-Dependent States Don’t Seem to Get It.”
The addition of cars in Richmond should come as no surprise and has nothing to do with the failed plebiscite. The condo developments being jammed in everywhere all come with massive underground parking systems. These developments are on 4-6 lane busy arterials with no thought to walk-ability. Lastly, the Chinese population are attached to the automobile, it is a status symbol for them. If all of Richmond’s density was done well and limited the amount of parking and was designed with human scale and walk-ability in mind it, it might actually be a nice place to be. This is not the case.
In Monocle’s Quality of Life ranking Vancouver dramatically improved this year. Vancouver rose to 7th from 16th, mostly due to Monocle putting a great deal more weight on access to outdoor activities. Cities where one could conceivably go for a beach swim at lunch strongly benefited.
Monocle also started placing more weight on affordability, and you’d think that’d bring Vancouver down a bit, except that every other top class city in the list is also absurdly unaffordable. Monocle blamed extreme unaffordability (not just housing prices, but taxes and even the price of a coffee) for why previous #1 winner Copenhagen dropped all the way down to 10th place.
Ironically Monocle cited Vancouver’s great transit network as a reason why it was ahead of Toronto and Montreal. I guess the issue went to print before the referendum results.
Monocle did list the Broadway line as a “Monocle Fix” to improve the city, along with more international flights and reducing homelessness.
Toronto has never placed on Monocle’s list.
It also depends on where people work.
People who choose to live in Richmond may work in the business parks to the east of downtown – Crestwood, etc. – or in Delta near Annacis Island.
You can’t assume that everyone would take the Canada Line to downtown Vancouver.
There’s also the “luxury” aspect of car ownership.
Have we really turned down transit funding?
Think about how much transit we’ve got over the past years:
1986: 28km
2001: 13km
2009: 18km
2016: 10km
By this metric, we’re slowly and steadily building transit across the region. At this rate, about 1.9km/year, by 2030 we’ll have 17 more km of transit in the region than today. 7km on the broadway corridor, and 10 km in surrey.