Forum: Transportation Challenge – Nov 3

Do you see any hint from Justin, BFF of Gregor, that the Feds could lower taxes and thereby give some room to Gregor to raise property taxes? This would shift the balance to the cities, which is what Gregor has been asking for. I know the BC Liberals lowered taxes for all, giving all municipalities the opportunity to secure more funding by moving in and capturing that reduction.

“I know the BC Liberals lowered taxes for all, giving all municipalities the opportunity to secure more funding by moving in and capturing that reduction.”
Which taxes have been ‘lowered for all’?
Since 2012, corporate rates have increased from 10% to 11%.
Small business has stayed steady at 2.5%.
Personal income taxes for those over $150K increased briefly and were than reduced. All other brackets have remained the same for ~5-years.
Are you referring to the cuts in 2001, that were accompanied by reductions in services? If so, we should probably hold Gregor accountable for not taking advantage of that extra tax room at the time, right?

‘A’ makes some valid points, yet, the Seattle Rental Car Tax is .08%.
TransLink gets 21% from Metro Vancouver drivers from the Parking Tax.
TransLink also gets 15% tax paid from gasoline.
TransLink also receives funding from Bridge Tolls.
TransLink also receives a 3% annual increase in it’s share of Property Tax (Seattle is limited by law to a 1% per annum increase).
You may well say, Vive la difference.
I strongly believe that the idea of squeezing money out of drivers is dangerous for society. The wealthy will not care about the cost and all commercial vehicles will increase costs to pay for the increases in transit taxes, so the society moves further into a widening gap of the rich and the poor.

The overall impact of the automobile is indeed very steep and that’s steep in many ways that are very good. There are many types of vehicles on the roads, primarily they are there for utilitarian reasons. This is why the number of vehicles continues to grow, everywhere. In fact, contrary to pseudo informed belief vehicle sales this century have almost doubled in the past 16 years.
http://www.gbm.scotiabank.com/English/bns_econ/bns_auto.pdf
Vehicles will naturally change as always. Vehicles today are far more efficient and less polluting than ever before.We can only be encouraged with new sales because those newer vehicles are often replacing older clunkers and are indeed better for the atmosphere.
The Metro region is burdened with limitations of living space partly due to the Agricultural Land Reserve, which means that residential developments have to be located beyond the immediate reserve lands of south Vancouver, Richmond and Delta. This consequently means that fast (rail) transit to the growing residential regions is difficult from a cost perspective. The fall-back is therefore roads.
Substantial and wide roads are required for commercial, services and emergency usage, as well as for the capability of trades people and others that need to access varying parts of the region.
Commuters will hop on a train, if it’s there. We’ve seen this with the Canada Line. A bus, to a lesser degree.
I agree with Andrew Coyne (SFU 2014) that transit should be competitive and private operators should be permitted. These days Gregor and Co wouldn’t dream of letting in Uber, so we can be sure that TransLink is save with their monopoly. Although, Sunny Ways Justin just announced that foreign and private investors are now welcome to come in and get into transit and infrastructure projects. These are going to need profits for those investors, so the model might have to shift.
Had that massive area of east Richmond cranberry fields developed as residential it could have been interlaced with a SkyTrain system linking to the other lines. This would be far more like the transit systems we see around so many European cities. Instead, the growth is further out. Those inner ALR lands will increasingly look like anachronisms. As artifacts from the past. Something Disney would have idyllically created. The big city with all the big buildings and the nice pretty farms around the edges. Norman Rockwell would be perfect to sell this.

A record $360,388,000 from fuel tax, that’s what TransLink reports.
TransLink, 2016
“Taxation Revenues account for 57 per cent of the Total Funded Revenue, with the majority coming from fuel and property taxation.
Fuel tax revenues for 2016 are estimated to increase $10. 4 million (3. 0 per cent) to $360. 4 million,
Parking Rights taxation revenue for 2016 is budgeted to increase $1. 7 million over the 2015 forecast, reflecting increased Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKT) within the Metro Vancouver region.
Fuel tax revenues for 2016 are estimated to increase $10. 4 million (3. 0 per cent) to $360. 4 million, building on the strong consumption trend realized in 2015.
Total transit revenue is expected to decrease by $1. 1 million (0.2 per cent) from the 2015 forecast. The decrease is due to an expected increase in utilization of discounted products, slightly offset by expected increases in ridership, contracted U-Pass BC student rate increases and additional revenue from reduced fare evasion.”
What is clear is that ridership is increasing while fare receipts are down. Yet money from drivers of vehicles not using the transit system is UP.
As I’ve said before. The income gap only increases with this system.
Here’s a gem to wonder about.
“Corporate One Time
One-time costs in the 2016 budget are $42. 6 million, consisting of Rapid Transit Studies ($12. 3 million), Evergreen Extension start-up costs ($4. 1 million), Pattullo Bridge replacement studies ($6 million), Compass and Fare Gate project start-up costs ($7. 8 million), mobility pricing ($0. 9 million) and contingency provision per TransLink’s policy ($11. 3 million).”