From the editors: Transit referendum - pinch your nose
On the tax boost for the sake of all-around better transit in Metro Vancouver, being a proponent of the “yes” side seemed like a no-brainer three months ago.
But people have begun using their brains, and now it’s looking like “Ahhhhh no.” This new information perplexed me, for it seems logical to upgrade the system at long last. This would mean more trains, light rail, another Seabus, more busses, a new Patullo bridge and less drivers to help Metro Vancouverites move faster. It’ll be a dream come true. Once the Mayors’ Council and “yes” campaigners convince people to give TransLink their money via extra sales tax, we’ll be at Waterfront in no time, sippin’ on that Granville Island Brew, or something.
“My blood started boiling at ‘give,’ ‘TransLink,’ ‘money,’” says a fiscal conservative.
If you were implicated in that 2014 summer day when the Expo Line just said “no,” you could probably attest that TransLink has abhorrent enough that most people shouldn’t trust them with the project and the money—oh, god, especially not the money—to do the project properly. In fact, 55 per cent of participants in a March 9 Insights West poll concerning the transit referendum were convinced that TransLink could go fuck themselves. And rightfully so. They don’t deliver, and they don’t Delissio. Their fancy Compass Card system is way overdue, for example, and The Province reported that it’s $23-million over budget. TransLink used hundreds of thousands of dollars on public art, and while that’s great, there were probably some infrastructure upgrades that were a little more pertinent than a giant porcelain poodle. I’m sure they thought it would be a big hit, but they clearly barked up the wrong tree (Hey-oooo!).
Insights West says the Jim Pattison group offered to run a committee to oversee the money, and though it swayed some, the majority currently remains no-no-no, unconvinced that one of the world’s most renown business groups could possibly reel TransLink in with the holy lasso of fiscal austerity.
Hell, even the “yes” people aren’t confident in TransLink to get this done smoothly. Insights West showed that only 11 per cent of “yes” people are convinced that TransLink is the prodigal son who will indeed get the people to Waterfront. If you’re not up on your Bible, do note that the prodigal son took a shitload of his dad’s money, got wasted in some city with some hookers and then came back broke to say “Sorry dad.” Ironically, dad threw him a kickass welcome home party. But I digress.
If the tax is approved, my hope is that this upgrade is extensive enough to be effective for more than two, three decades. Population growth, while a factor in the upgrade’s sustainability questions, is a factor that can’t be mitigated forever by upgrading transit. I’m not really Malthusian by any means, but as the KSA’s Eric Wirsching told The Runner last issue: “People generally have sex.”
Look, TransLink is truly something that needs fixing. The bad press certainly doesn’t help their case, and it’s a factor going into this referendum that’s really about yes-or-no to tax-for-transit. But if people vote yes in the upcoming referendum, Metro Vancouverites will at least enjoy what appears to be a dramatic increase of mobility capacity, even if TransLink continues to run with impunity. If people vote no, then the region gets the worst of both evils: no increased capacity, and TransLink. Do the math, guys.
