Canada's transit wars: People want good service but not the cost

Vancouver, that glittering, glass-walled city on the Pacific, is heading into a potentially vicious war over transit.

Other big Canadian cities will, without a doubt, be watching closely as residents in Metro Vancouver vote in a referendum to boost the provincial sales tax by half a percentage point in the region to pay for a 10-year, $7.5-billion program of improvements to roads and bridges, but mostly to fund public transit expansion.

The mail-in vote, run by ElectionsBC, will take place between March 16 and May 29, but there are already signs the Yes side may have a steep hill to climb to convince voters to add another transit tax.

Residents already fund the system via fuel, property and parking taxes, not to mention fares. An earlier proposal for a vehicle-licensing levy was quashed in the face of a looming public backlash.

The sales tax proposal has broad support among the establishment, including Metro Vancouver’s business community, unions and the Vancouver’s main civic parties, as well as most mayors.

But the No side is gathering steam, led by disgruntled suburban residents south of the Fraser River who say they’ll continue to be short-changed when it comes to transit services and rapid-transit expansion.

Others balk at the idea of giving TransLink, the regional transit authority, another $250 million a year. They complain the organization wastes the money it’s already getting. Critics point to the installation of an electronic fare-gate system that’s remains unworkable two years after it was supposed to be in place, and whose cost has doubled to $200 million. A series of disruptive shutdowns last year on the 30-year-old SkyTrain computerized driverless rail system has called TransLink’s operating competence into question.

Yes side warns of gridlock if tax proposal rejected

Recently, the mayor of affluent West Vancouver came out against the plan and urged residents to vote No. The mayors of suburban Burnaby and Maple Ridge have also spoken out against it.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was elected by the regional mayor’s council to head the Yes campaign, with Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner as vice-chair, though many of her ratepayers think it’ll be years before they see any benefit such as expanded rapid transit and better bus service.

Proponents warn that if voters reject the proposal, there is no Plan B, and that the region is headed for eventual gridlock as more cars are put on the road.

“I think it’s still an open contest,” Anthony Perl, who teaches urban studies at Simon Fraser University, told Yahoo Canada News. “It could go either way.

"I don’t feel there’s been a death blow struck by the No side by any means. They’ve certainly made a lot of noise early on in the campaign. But I think the Yes side is building its organization and we’ll be hearing more from them as the weeks go on. My guess is that it will become a close vote.”

[ Related: Toronto mayoral race: Comparing candidates’ takes on burning issue – traffic ]

[ Related: TransLink referendum approved by B.C. government ]

The fight over transit in Vancouver has been echoed in almost every other big Canadian city. In Toronto, it’s about subways versus surface light-rail. It was the dominant issue in last fall’s civic elections. Transit commissioner Gary Webster was fired over his reluctance to support Mayor Rob Ford’s plan for an expensive subway extension to his Etobicoke stronghold over light rail.

In Montreal, there’s been predictable hand-wringing over the cost of expanding its Metro rapid-transit system, while Ottawa’s Confederation light-rail line is finally under construction, augmenting the capital’s system of dedicated commuter bus routes.

Urban planner Barry Wellar, a retired University of Ottawa geography professor, said his city still seems unable to make up its mind on an overall plan.

Part of the problem, he said, is that Ottawa and other Canadian cities were primarily developed along the U.S. model, which favours cars over public transit dominates that European urban planning.

"So the problem is, they have a hell of a job wrapping their minds around the role of transit," he said in an interview. "They just don’t get it.”

Wellar said he has been preaching sustainable transportation planning for 40 years.

“A lot of people don’t understand what it means to integrate land use and transportation,” he said.

Vancouver has been a leader in transit-oriented development, said Wellar.

“People were just talking about it [but] Vancouver got off the stick and actually did it,” he said. “Whenever I’m out there, I take the SkyTrain where ever I can. I love to ride that thing.”

He’s dismayed to discover long-term transportation planning may be going off the rails if the tax proposal fails.

“I won’t say I’m hurt, I’m just disappointed that presumably one of the smartest areas in Canada can’t think beyond the immediate,” he said.

Vancouver still retains a powerful road-building lobby which gains from favouring the automobile, he said.

Can’t postpone transit investments, urban planning expert warns

Real gridlock is a myth, said Wellar, but a vibrant city should expect some level of congestion. The question is how much people can live with and how much can be ameliorated by getting people out of cars and into transit, on bikes or walking.

“You cannot postpone these kinds of investments, because if you do, what will happen is the roads will go in, the sprawl will accelerate and you will be in a much worse position in 10 years than you are now,” he said.

Suburbs that are squawking they’re going to be short-changed need to remember that they probably wouldn’t have grown without the economic vibrancy of Vancouver itself, said Wellar.

"They’re in a region-building enterprise," he said.

SFU’s Perl questioned the Yes campaign’s dire warnings of gridlock.

“I think there’s a bit too much fear and a bit less emphasis so far on the opportunity side of things,” he said. “I guess the fear is what gets people’s attention and they’re trying to get people to focus on this.”

A better approach would be to point to the economic and wealth-creation advantages of having an effective rapid transit system, said Perl.

“You look at the world’s richest cities, Singapore, Hong Kong, Zurich, They all have pretty darn good rail transit systems and they’re building more of them,” he said. “It’s not a coincidence or fluke.”

What Vancouver has in common with other Canadian cities, said Perl, is the lack of long-term commitment from senior levels of government, especially Ottawa, to funding transportation improvements like transit.

The federal and provincial government may negotiate one-off deals to jointly fund large-scale projects such as the new Evergreen SkyTrain line and the wildly successful Canada Line that opened in time for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. But they aren’t prepared to put stable funding in place that could make long-term planning easier.

It forces civic governments and their taxpayers to worry that they might be saddled with the biggest tab up front.

"It is asking a lot of people to pay the full freight of these big-ticket infrastructure projects," said Perl. "Canada is rare in the world in not having a large federal role in urban spending in general and urban transportation in particular."

A successful vote in this spring’s referendum might persuade Ottawa to support the program by guaranteeing a local revenue source, he said but “in other countries that national-level funding commitment is there at the front end.”

A Yes vote could point other cities to a potential route for funding needed transportation projects, said Perl.

“I think that if the referendum succeeds, Vancouver Metro region would be a leader for Canada,” he said. “It would open the door for other places to pursue these kinds of options.”