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Jan 14/08: BC Govt. Unveils A $14-Billion Public Transit Plan ...
??.Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon
unveiled a $14-billion public transit plan to be completed by 2020
today. It is a key measure in the Province’s greenhouse gas reduction
plan, touching every region of the province.
“Our new plan will double transit ridership by increasing choice for
people around the province, with new fleets, green technology, new
lines and new innovative services like RapidBus BC,” Campbell said.
“The plan focuses on safe, comfortable, reliable services that will
highlight green technologies and will reshape our communities by
encouraging integration of work, home and recreational activities. It
provides people with the choices they need to make a difference.”
“One new transit line was committed to in each of the previous three
decades; this plan delivers three lines in the next decade,” said
Falcon.
The plan calls for $14 billion in investments, including $11.1 billion
in new funding, with the Province committing $4.75 billion, and the
remainder from partners, including the federal government, TransLink
and local governments.
Increased security measures will enhance transit safety. Electronic
gates and closed-circuit cameras will be installed at rapid transit
and new RapidBus stations. A smart-card system for rapid transit and
buses, which users can reload at vending machines or on the Internet,
will be implemented.
“This plan will provide fast, reliable, green transit that acts as a
catalyst to change the nature and form of all our communities – urban,
suburban and rural,” said Campbell. “As more and more British
Columbians live and work near transit, urban form will shift, which
will lead to lower energy use, increasing energy efficiency, and a
lighter environmental footprint.”
A cumulative total of 4.7 million tonnes in transportation greenhouse
gases (GHG) will be reduced by 2020. The GHG savings will be about the
equivalent of parking all the cars and light trucks in Metro Vancouver
for a full year by getting British Columbians out of their cars and
onto transit.
The plan calls for:
* $10.3-billion investment in four new rapid transit lines in Metro
Vancouver – the Evergreen Line, the UBC Line, the upgraded Expo Line
and the Canada Line (for which $2 billion was previously committed);
* $1.2 billion for a new, cutting-edge energy efficient, high capacity
RapidBus BC service along nine major routes in the high-growth urban
centres of Kelowna, Victoria and Metro Vancouver; and
* $1.6-billion investment in 1,500 new, clean energy buses and related
maintenance infrastructure to provide communities around the province
with improved bus service.
“The transit plan sets out innovative, integrated, customized
solutions for individual communities to keep people and goods moving
efficiently in B.C. as part of our broader transportation strategy,”
said Falcon. “Increased transit will allow people more choice, and
often time savings. For example, during peak periods, transit riders
travelling between Coquitlam Centre and Vancouver International
Airport can save more than an hour every day compared to drivers.”
The Transit Plan complements other key provincial transportation
initiatives such as the Cariboo Connector, Trans-Canada Highway
upgrades like the Kicking Horse Canyon, roads to support the mountain
pine beetle harvest, and projects in Metro Vancouver such as the
Gateway Program. This announcement is in addition to the recently
announced $180-million investment establishing rapid bus service over
the Gateway Program’s twinned Port Mann Bridge.
For more information or a copy of the Provincial Transit Plan, visit
www.th.gov.bc.ca/Transit_Plan on the Internet. |
