Score One for Translink – Canada Line is a Success

I guess it just goes to show that when you build a transit system between communities with enough people that need one, people will use it. Since I ride the Canada Line daily, it’s pretty clear to me that it’s the right line in the right place. It’s so busy, just a few months into its operating life, that it can be challenging to board at rush hour.

So, how did this success come about? Well, you have to look first at the ones that didn’t work. Let’s say, the Millennium Line. It was a political boondoggle on an even grander scale than the Fast Ferry debacle. Billions were borrowed and spent to build an elevated transit system that stitches together a bunch of staunch NDP ridings. Residential densities along the line are low, ridership is low, and Translink’s operating cost picture is distorted by the ongoing cost of the debt service and operating cost of a line that had no economic rationale when it was built. In the end, through Translink fare boxes and taxes, the entire lower mainland is paying the bill for this folly.

Political decisions driving Translink’s costs are the rule, not the exception. Not only was the Millennium line an economic bust, it took nearly thirty years for the Expo line to break even, even though Translink’s analysis shows that it’s one of the lowest-cost transit lines in the world (you can thank the computer-controlled system that has no high-cost human drivers on each train). Why so long to start paying its way? Simple. Like the Millennium line, there were just not enough riders in the communities along the way for the first decades of its life.

Not only did Translink and the Canada Line planners build the Canada line in the right place, they drove a stake into the heart of one of the most bizarre Skytrain philosophies: for the original construction of the Expo line, the transit purists in charge decided that people who didn't live near a Skytrain station should be confined to using the bus for access. The original Expo line was completely devoid of Park-and-Ride facilities. In response to the inevitable public pressure, later Surrey extensions in 1990 and 1994 included the first two designated lots. The Millennium line, even though it runs though large areas with low housing density and sparse bus service, only added one more lot. While the lack of parking may have contributed to slow growth of Skytrain traffic in the past, it hasn't happened this time. While the Canada Line is only a fraction of the length of Expo and Millennium, it had two Richmond lots open on day one! Well done!

Where does that leave us for the future? Well, there is no shortage of heavily traveled routes to upgrade with trains. The unbridled growth of UBC is putting enormous strain on the road infrastructure. Cross-town routes like Broadway have reached saturation. The next stop is grade separation, a polite term for building a rail line above or below the road. Ditto, the expansion in the tri-cities, where commuters are choked through narrow traffic routes to get to work.

If our political leaders are at all serious about getting us out of our cars, there have to be real alternatives available. Computerized rail is costly to build, but inexpensive to run. We need a long-term commitment to extending it between communities in the lower mainland.