Provincial NDP commit to funding 40% of the Metro Mayors’ transit plan. With the Feds in for 50%, that leaves 10% for the Mayors, down from 17% under the BC Liberals.
Announcement HERE. Backgrounder HERE.
A New Democrat government will get Metro Vancouver commuters moving again by increasing the provincial share of capital funding for public transportation improvements to 40 percent, clearing the way to shorter commutes and thousands of new construction jobs over the next 10 years. . .
. . . “The Metro mayors have worked hard to develop a 10-year transportation plan, and New Democrats support their vision. We’re going to work together to break the gridlock on our roads, fight climate change, and create thousands of good jobs as we move ahead.” . . .
. . . “A New Democrat government will increase the province’s capital share from 33 per cent to 40 per cent to get moving on the transportation planning framework developed by Metro Vancouver mayors.
From the backgrounder:
A New Democrat government would put communities back in charge of TransLink and work with them to determine the best funding sources going-forward.
Now all you gotta do is vote for ’em.
Must be an election coming up next. Why do councils fund so little if they gain the most in terms of DCCs and new property taxes ?
How about higher parking fees in residential neighborhoods to get more funds for cities to co-fund transit ? https://pricetags.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/free-parking-is-like-squatting/
To encourage less cars we need a shiny carrot and a big stick. The stick of higher car use fees is far too skinny right now. The bus based carrot is not shiny enough either. Where are the subways ?
Where is the debate about escalating and excessive city and Translink employee costs ? They make out like bandits: http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/english/article/7290-public-sector-workers-oped.html Our taxes are so high because the service delivery costs are far too high.
The NDP would put communities back in charge of TransLink and work with them to determine the best funding sources moving forward.
It’s a start. Correction: It’s merely returning policy back to where it was when they originally created TransLink in the 90s to afford better local control. Gordon Campbell, Kevin falcon and the current gang later seized control of TransLink in order to jerk the locals around to make them conform to their will. TransLink shields the BC Liberals from public reaction to their weak transit funding policies. That has worked well so far.
I wonder what the NDP would do with the Massey Bridge project considering it’s outrageous $4B draw on taxpayer’s involuntary largesse, not to mention its high per capita cost, low economic return, absence of operating cost recovery, and huge environmental impacts compared to the same expenditure in transit?
And unneeded coal exports? The false promise of LNG? Pharmacare and healthcare policy and funding? An elected regional government? Intercity rail and marine transport? Encouraging municipalities, which are under the province’s wings, to evolve more sustainably? Unfreezing BC First Nations treaty negotiations?
There’s a lot more out there besides TransLink.
Healthcare needs more private funding indeed. ( http://www.theccf.ca ) We need more tolled bridges and wider roads indeed. Transit needs to be more rapid and more expensive indeed. Too much immigration needs higher property taxes and pre-payment of healthcare costs indeed.
Current income tax based finding needs reform indeed.