Originally Posted by Culverin (Post 7601930)

Sorry, I had a typo.

Should have read:


By the city, I mean Vancouver.
But by vertical growth, I mean less urban sprawl, more high rises like the ones that have popped up around Edmonds, Brentwood, Gilmore and Holdom.

I think you took it as to mean to commute out to Langley is a waste of time. Quite the opposite actually. I have nothing against you living in Langley.
I meant to say that living in Langley and commuting out to Downtown is a waste of time.

I totally agree with you on transit. But before that can happen, we need to push more jobs out of the downtown core, and into the other cities. Wouldn't you rather work in your own city than to drive across 3 to get to work?

Originally Posted by quasi (Post 7602046)

So when they were putting the train through Vancouver, Burnaby, New West and Richmond everybody in the LML should kick in and pay for it. When they extend the train east of the fraser or into Coquitlam those residents should be soley responsible for the burden of paying it? Makes absolute sense..............if you live in Vancouver, Burnaby, New West or Richmond. :)

In all honesty I don't even want the damm thing to come out here. I live in Cloverdale, 2 blocks west of Langley and I'd prefer the skytrain stays away. All it does it bring crime with it, I'll drive if I need to go somewhere.

Originally Posted by gars (Post 7601947)

You guys need to stop focusing on what should have, could have been done. Bitching about how "we should have had an octopus system" is useless. PWC did an audit back in 2008, and found that the fare evasion only costs translink about $4-5 million a year. It would have cost us $170 million, plus $15 million a year to run a system similar to Octopus. That said - part of the fare evasion includes people hoping onto buses as well, which is not going to be stopped completely by having an octopus card

Originally Posted by melloman (Post 7602115)

:fuckthatshit: $4-5 million per year... since 1986.. 25 years x $5mil/year... is $125 million lost.. and they will just continue losing money unless something is done.

Originally Posted by Gridlock (Post 7602126)

I'm getting sick of being nickle and dimed to live here.

I did some research on toll bridges(ok, I looked it up on wikipedia).

Of the toll bridges in Canada, there are 2 in Halifax at $1 a piece.

There are a bunch in Ontario. They ALL go to the United States. ALL of those bridges are equal or less in cost to what they will charge on the Port Mann/Goldenears/Patullo without transponder. And I'm not trying to go to a different country, I'm trying to go to work.

Now, let's spike a little gas tax again. Where the christ is the carbon tax?

There is only so far I'm willing to go to live here.

Carbon Tax, transit gas tax, tolls...which really are admission fees to the city.

Originally Posted by MindBomber (Post 7602024)

Respectfully, I doubt either of you have ever spent a substantial amount of time in Langley, much less lived there. Your comments are based on assumption, not actual knowledge.

The density in the majority of Langley is equal to any other city in the GVRD outside of the DT core and continually growing, the demand for transit exists, is massive and only growing. The areas that are low density are farmland and acreage, on the outer cusps of Langley and relatively insignificant.

Originally Posted by goo3 (Post 7601977)

Transit in Langley = waste of money. Don't underestimate just busy a route has to be in order for it to break even. We're not paying for Chinese drivers, Chinese buses, Chinese construction, and Chinese maintenance.

If you live out there, drive your car then park 'n ride.

Originally Posted by Armind (Post 7601541)

Regional mayors met The Province's editorial board on Oct. 4 to discuss the proposed gas tax to pay for TransLink upgrades. Pictured is (from left to right): Dianne Watts from Surrey, Peter Fassbender from Langley, Pam Goldsmith-Jones from West Vancouver, Richard Stewart from Coquitlam and Gregor Robertson from Vancouver.
Photograph by: Jason Payne, PNG
Get ready to fork over another two cents a litre for gas tax.

Several Metro Vancouver mayors said Tuesday they have the votes necessary to approve a gas tax increase for transportations improvements at a crucial meeting on Friday.

“We believe a good strong majority of mayors will support this,” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told The Province editorial board Tuesday. “It is an investment which is crucial for the economy and livability of the region.”

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts agreed.

“This is the right thing to do. In another 20 years there will be another million people in the region. We have to get this done,” she said.

Robertson and Watts both indicated a majority of the region’s 22 mayors are supporting a TransLink plan called Moving Forward.

The plan would provide funding to finish the long-awaited Evergreen SkyTrain line to Coquitlam, as well as other transportation improvements.

The mayors are voting on the plan at the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation on Friday.

The support of Vancouver and Surrey, the region’s two largest cities, is vital. Their votes, plus a handful of other mayors who have also committed themselves, virtually guarantee that the plan will pass.

Vancouver’s and Surrey’s votes count for more than the others because the tallies are pro-rated on the basis of populations.

The mayors say their approval of the funding mechanism will also result in $20 million annually for major road network improvements, $6 million for cycling and significantly expanded bus service hours totalling 425,000 hours region-wide.

Mayors in Burnaby, Richmond and the Langley Township have stated their opposition to the plan. They say it doesn’t go far enough to address funding problems for transportation in the future.

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld (Post 7602249)

LOL WUT??
Somebody explain why car drivers need to subsidize cyclists?

Originally Posted by Anjew (Post 7602305)

LOL BS....in rush hours the train is crazy full all the time... imagine when the people from port moody, coquitlam, poco get in the trains FIRST..... the cities PAYING for the extension get SHAFTED.

fantastic!!!!

and why the hell am i paying for it when i'm driving a car and not transit???
INCREASE the cost of the additional zones... like from poco you need 4zones now because you gotta pay for the damn extension!!!

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo (Post 7601922)

why not just tax all the rich people instead... like all the mainlanders buying up all the damn houses...

Originally Posted by Tapioca (Post 7602150)

I reckon that a comparison of the average size of lots in your typical East Vancouver neighbourhood to any housing development in the rest of the GVRD built in the last 20 years would tilt in favour of the latter. I'm not talking just about the concentration of high rises, but the design of neighbourhoods and the corresponding sprawl.

Originally Posted by MindBomber (Post 7602580)

Go for a drive in Langley and check out the lots sizes of new developments.

Originally Posted by quasi (Post 7602698)

Exactly, take a drive through my neighbourhood and it's just as if not more dense then most neighbourhoods in Vancouver and it's not even close. The exception to the rule would be downtown with all the highrise apartments, we don't have highrises out here.

My sons school has 7 kindergarten classes and according to the school they have yet to peak they expect more growth over the next 4 years, how many does your average Vancouver school have? :)

Originally Posted by Alatar (Post 7602726)

Makes me want to go for a drive to fill up with gas in Blaine now.