I Support SkyTrain to UBC

Last week I came across a wonderful site. A site that is in support of SkyTrain out to UBC, after all better transit along the Broadway corridor is something we all can agree is long over due in our region. The site is simply UBC SkyTain. I urge you to check it out as it debunks myths of LRT supporters. Further, contrary to popular belief I’ve been told the site is run by local supporters of rapid transit and not Translink. Of course the LRT supporters will say otherwise.

Now, SkyTrain of course will be a more expensive option (approx. $3 billion) and it will have to be tunneled all the way to UBC because west side residents are not going to want elevated rail in their neighbourhood. However, it will be faster, convenient and will complete the SkyTrain grid in Vancouver. Then once the Evergreen line and the Millenium Line extension are completed we can shift our focus to LRT. For instance the Arbutus corridor could handle LRT as the existing rail line is just taking up valuable space. I can also envision LRT one day on Kent (behind Marine Drive) linking up to the Canada Line station at Marine and so on. This will make sense as the city plans to house an additional 15 to 20,000 residents on the extreme southeast corner of the city. Phase 1 of the East Fraserlands is currently in the preliminary stages of development.

Now of course there is the vocal minority that support at grade, slow moving, must stop at red light etc… LRT. This they want on one of the most heavily congested streets in the city. Yes, I believe that is a capital idea, we should bring in slow moving public transportation and take away a car lane in B.C’s second largest area in terms of job concentration (behind Downtown Vancouver). To think that is egregious. To think that construction of LRT on Broadway won’t be disruptive is also ridiculous.

At the end of the day LRT supporters are fighting a futile fight and lack the necessary rationality to come up with a feasible argument. Funny thing is they either know it or are too stubborn in their ways to think they could ever be wrong about something.