3104 replies to this topic

[Old Esquimalt]

Love how he just knee capped the city...

Gee... maybe we should of built a bridge with rail?

It was obvious  from the very beginning that getting rid of the rail link into downtown was the primary goal of this whole sorry farce called a bridge replacement.

 

Why did the city stop maintaining the Johnson St. Bridge?  It has worked just fine since the 20s.  Didn't one of the consulting engineers make a sarcastic comment in his report about how it would be good to have a maintenance budget?

 

Remember how the rail bridge was left in the up position for months because if was supposedly unsafe for cyclists to ride across?

 

Comical: it's strong enough to hold hundreds of tons of its own weight at 60 degrees, but not strong enough for 10,000 pounds of cyclists?

 

Sure a lot of money could be pocketed building a new bridge on the usual cost-plus-the-taxpayers-are-paying basis, but I've always known the real game plan was to make sure commuter rail could never come into downtown Victoria.

 

Why?  Because hundreds of millions of dollars of potential profits are at stake, that's why!  Money that will be spent on endless road construction and maintenance for decades to come.

 

Railways need much less maintenance than roads once they are built, and of course the people that build roads aren't in the business of maintaining railways.

 

And then you've got all that choice real estate up and down the E&N corridor that can be made available to the right people if the railway closes for good.

 

Think about who makes money from roads and road vehicles and you'll figure out who has a stake in never having commuter rail on this island.

 

So, the stakeholders have won and the biggest stakeholders of all, the people, have lost.  And the reason is they won't get off their butts and participate in the political process.

 

And of course the reality is that many of those who think they have won from this have also lost, because a properly functioning rail system would be an enormous boost to our economy and our competitiveness as an island economy.   Development and property values would increase all the way to Courtenay.   We would become much more attractive as a retirement destination, in fact we would become THE Canadian retirement destination.  But too late now.

 

There was a time when public officials in this country used to put the public interest and its future first.  Those days are gone: they are now for sale like they are in second and third world countries, and that is exactly what we are as a result.

Edited by Old Esquimalt, 26 May 2018 - 07:08 AM.

[sdwright.vic]

The city of Victoria is in the business of pet projects. Not maintaining infrastructure.

[Nparker]

...you've got all that choice real estate up and down the E&N corridor that can be made available to the right people if the railway closes for good...

I suspect there is some truth to this.

[splashflash]

[quote name="Nparker" post="440483" timestamp="1527347563"]

I suspect there is some truth to this.[/quote

First nations?

[PraiseKek]

This is the most hilarious post I've seen. A conspiracy to get rid of a rail line that was running a tiny bud car every day. The rail line closed because no one likes trains. That's the truth of it. People don't like trains or buses or bikes. They like CARS. 

[sdwright.vic]

Sheldon Cooper likes trains....

😑

[On the Level]

The rail line closed because no one likes trains. That's the truth of it. People don't like trains or buses or bikes. They like CARS. 

 

I like Bikes and Cars...but am not about to bike to Costco....or to work in February.....or over the Malihat.  I especially like trains....cause I took the Westcoast Express when I was commuting in Vancouver.  No bus stops, no lights, no nonsense.  Just a quick nonstop trip into town while I drank my coffee.  Compared to that, cars and bikes suck.  Buses suck more.

[Cats4Hire]

for to/from work trips I don't see why one wouldn't prefer a proper public transit system (involving trains, nicely designed bus routes, bus lanes, etc) over their car. On the train/bus you can read, play a game, watch something on Netflix, etc. In your car you have to sit there, looking forward, feet sometimes moving slightly to push the gas pedal maybe drinking or eating. Give me the train/bus system over that any day. (I do see why having a personal car would be better for shopping or making a number of stops in various places no matter how good the transit system is though)

[RFS]

for to/from work trips I don't see why one wouldn't prefer a proper public transit system (involving trains, nicely designed bus routes, bus lanes, etc) over their car. On the train/bus you can read, play a game, watch something on Netflix, etc. In your car you have to sit there, looking forward, feet sometimes moving slightly to push the gas pedal maybe drinking or eating. Give me the train/bus system over that any day. (I do see why having a personal car would be better for shopping or making a number of stops in various places no matter how good the transit system is though)

In a car you control the heat/AC, control the music or podcasts, control the stops you make, control the route, control whos with you meaning no junkies or generally gross people, no one sits next to you invading your personal bubble or stares at you, plus some of us like our cars and enjoy being in them.

[Cats4Hire]

You can control music/podcasts on transit too you just need headphones instead of it playing through your car speakers.

[Mike K.]

I drove the "crawl" this morning at 10AM and it was smooth sailing without a smidgen of delays between the Malahat and Tillicum (even the construction zone was a non issue).

 

What is a billion dollar commuter train going to do between 9:30AM and 2:30PM, and then again from 6PM to midnight?

[G-Man]

I dunno what would Surrey be like if we had never had the Expo line built in the 80s?

[Mike K.]

With less than 7% of the population, Langford is no Surrey.

The entirety of the south Island from Nanaimo to Oak Bay and everything east or west of the TCH isn’t enough to break Surrey’s population of 520,000, and yet we liken ourselves to some massively over populated, congested mega-city with crushing infrastructure struggles.

All we need are a couple of interchanges and several arterial roads returned to their full capacity we’re literally good for generations to come. Enough with this train business and the “we can only solve congestion through alternative transportation” talk. It doesn’t apply to us and likely never will.

[dasmo]

I drove the "crawl" this morning at 10AM and it was smooth sailing without a smidgen of delays between the Malahat and Tillicum (even the construction zone was a non issue).

What is a billion dollar commuter train going to do between 9:30AM and 2:30PM, and then again from 6PM to midnight?

It will enable 80,000 people to live in the WestHills....

[Jackerbie]

I dunno what would Surrey be like if we had never had the Expo line built in the 80s?

 

Expo Line isn't the right comparison, unless frequent rapid transit is what is on the table. West Coast Express is a true commuter service with only five trains per day, Monday to Friday. It serves Mission (39K), Maple Ridge (82K), Pitt Meadows (18K), and the Tri Cities (234K). The Tri Cities are also served by the Evergreen extension, part of the Millennium Line.

[tjv]

^does the population of Victoria to Nanaimo even beat Surrey's population?

 

in 1986 Surrey's population was 181,000 so that is a large increase, not sure how much is from the Expo Line.

[Mike K.]

It will enable 80,000 people to live in the WestHills....

Westhills is about half the size of Vic West. I don’t think they’ll be able to fit 40,000 per square kilometre.

[Mike K.]

^does the population of Victoria to Nanaimo even beat Surrey's population?

in 1986 Surrey's population was 181,000 so that is a large increase, not sure how much is from the Expo Line.

Not even close. You need everything in between to close the gap and even then Surrey is bigger.

[PraiseKek]

for to/from work trips I don't see why one wouldn't prefer a proper public transit system (involving trains, nicely designed bus routes, bus lanes, etc) over their car. On the train/bus you can read, play a game, watch something on Netflix, etc. In your car you have to sit there, looking forward, feet sometimes moving slightly to push the gas pedal maybe drinking or eating. Give me the train/bus system over that any day. (I do see why having a personal car would be better for shopping or making a number of stops in various places no matter how good the transit system is though)

1) Buses and trains are cramped and uncomfortable.

2) You have to watch your stuff.

3) Women get assaulted on them and so do men occasionally

4) You get the creepy weird guy that talks to you.

5) You stop. at. every. stop.

6) It's hot and noisy

7) It never goes where you actually want to go or when you want to go. You have to wait and drive or walk anyway.

8) I can't stop on the way and pick something up on the way home or whatever

 

Those are just off the top of my head. There's actually way more reasons why you'll never see me on a bus or train. You wouldn't pick up a bunch of random hitchhikers but when you ride the bus that's essentially what you've got.

Edited by PraiseKek, 29 May 2018 - 12:47 PM.

[PraiseKek]

I dunno what would Surrey be like if we had never had the Expo line built in the 80s?

If the money wasted on skytrain was used for highway improvements largely the same except with a better transportation system so there's that I guess.