No to Commuter Rail; Yes to Light Rail
Shane Dyson has a letter in today's Advance beseeching the local MLAs to push for commuter rail:
I hope they never do! Commuter rail would do very little to service the transportation needs of the south Fraser... we need light rail or community rail. And rail advocates need to be clear on that.
I'm going to assume that Shane is being imprecise with his language, but it's an important distinction, and one we should remember. Commuter rail (see the Wikipedia entry here) is the West Coast Express style of service--heavy trains, peak periods only, heavily subsidized by tax dollars, and serving simply to take people out of our community and deposit them in downtown Vancouver so they can go to work (as if it's 1970 all over again!).
Every study I've seen show that a very, very small percentage of south Fraser residents need such a service. The far more pressing need is an interurban service, connecting communities like Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack to one another. This can then lead to a route extension to the north Fraser, or simply tie in with SkyTrain. But the interurban style of service needs to be the priority first--not commuter rail.
Interurbans are generally light rail, which is cheaper and cleaner to operate, runs more frequently, and connects the jurisdictions where Langley people actually travel.
Anyway, I'd be very disappointed if our MLAs spoke out for commuter rail, as it is an expensive, less-worthy option than an interurban. We need the interurban first.
For more on the differences, click here.
Since we now have Langley MLA Mary Polak joining Fort Langley-Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman in the cabinet, perhaps both will speak out in favour of commuter rail service through the Fraser Valley.
I hope they never do! Commuter rail would do very little to service the transportation needs of the south Fraser... we need light rail or community rail. And rail advocates need to be clear on that.
I'm going to assume that Shane is being imprecise with his language, but it's an important distinction, and one we should remember. Commuter rail (see the Wikipedia entry here) is the West Coast Express style of service--heavy trains, peak periods only, heavily subsidized by tax dollars, and serving simply to take people out of our community and deposit them in downtown Vancouver so they can go to work (as if it's 1970 all over again!).
Every study I've seen show that a very, very small percentage of south Fraser residents need such a service. The far more pressing need is an interurban service, connecting communities like Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack to one another. This can then lead to a route extension to the north Fraser, or simply tie in with SkyTrain. But the interurban style of service needs to be the priority first--not commuter rail.
Interurbans are generally light rail, which is cheaper and cleaner to operate, runs more frequently, and connects the jurisdictions where Langley people actually travel.
Anyway, I'd be very disappointed if our MLAs spoke out for commuter rail, as it is an expensive, less-worthy option than an interurban. We need the interurban first.
For more on the differences, click here.
posted by Jordan Bateman @ 8:30 AM
