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SRVI
Jan 25 2007, 11:32 PM EST | Post edited: Jan 25 2007, 11:32 PM EST
Why can't B.C. Gov. put some pressure on C.N. to grant right of way use to E&N ? 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
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Yule
Yule
1. RE: SRVI
Jan 26 2007, 1:36 AM EST | Post edited: Jan 26 2007, 1:36 AM EST
I don't know. I wonder whether it has something to do with what strikes me as an arm's-length policy toward cities on the part of provincial & federal governments? The Tyee had an article (and yikes, do read the long string of comments), "For Tories, Cities Aren't Sexy" (published today, 1/25/07), see: http://www1.thetyee.ca/News/2007/01/25/Cities/.

Things like LRT and infrastructural improvements aren't getting done anywhere in Canada, according to a report detailed by this article. (The report, by a committee chaired by Mike Harcourt, is here: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/eaccc-ccevc/rep-rap/index_e.shtml . Mike Harcourt's participation in turn elicited some of the fireworks in the comments in the Tyee article.)

On the Vibrant Victoria forum (see http://vibrantvictoria.ca/forum/ ) there's a lively discussion in the "infrastructure" thread around LRT and public transport and where to put it, with all sorts of pro- and con- arguments around whether it should be in the core, or in the so-called Western Communities, or whether it should be buses or LRT or what...

My own take? I feel strongly that LRT has the best chance of succeeding economically, and I say this based on nothing more concrete than a vague psychological intution. And it's this: many people don't like taking the bus, because (IMO) buses are on roads, on which (theoretically) you can go anywhere, & you can see the driver, which means quite clearly that someone else is in the driver's seat. On LRT, there might be a visible driver, but s/he is on a track & has no "choice" about where to go. This somehow mitigates against the passenger's sense of impotence, making him/her more willing to accept being carted about. Buses remind people of cars, but they also remind them that buses are everything that cars are NOT. Trains (esp'y LRT) don't, & they get used more. So, don't put more buses in, put LRT in. That's my 2-cents. It doesn't answer your question, but it's another pitch for LRT. 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?