The Evergreen Line and the future of Skytrain

April 30, 2012 By in Planning and Development, Transit, Skytrain, LRT, Tricities Tags: , 10 Comments

During the recent panic around transportation funding in Metro Vancouver, the authorities assured us that construction of the long-awaited Evergreen rapid transit line will proceed.  Preliminary work — street widenings, electrical ducts — is now underway, and a contractor is to be selected soon for principal construction,  scheduled to begin in autumn 2012.

But while the 11-kilometre line appears to have achieved untouchable status in the  balance of regional politics, there are persistent voices in the blogosphere who say the project is wrong, wrong, wrong, because it’s based on Skytrain — the obtrusive technology previously used in three other Vancouver-area projects, and hardly anywhere else in the world.  In deliberations over the Evergreen Line around 2006, local mayors seemed to be leaning toward light rail transit, until the provincial government declared force majeure and imposed Skytrain.  The same dynamic had played out, less dramatically, with the Millenium and Canada lines earlier on. Continue reading →

Aldergrove: Salvaging a village in the deep ‘burbs

April 23, 2012 By in Surrey Langley White Rock, Urban Villages Project Tags: , 2 Comments

In a Langley Township Council discussion about Aldergrove’s urban village, Councillor Charlie Fox expressed hope that the village might rise again to become the “heartbeat” of the area.  “Right now, it’s probably the deadbeat of Aldergrove,” he said.

Mr. Fox might have been referring uncharitably to the social agency shops and kitchens that indicate the presence of a low-income population; or he might have been talking about the village’s air of fatigue, of having seen repeated setbacks.  The village plan admits that nearby highway commercial development has drawn customers away, “as evidenced by a number of vacant store fronts and the existence of some marginal businesses.” Continue reading →

1 free tip for the TransLink mayors

April 18, 2012 By in Transit, Skytrain, LRT Tags: , 2 Comments

April has seen continuing turmoil at TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transportation authority, generating widespread coverage from mass media and from bloggers.

A root cause of TransLink’s financial and administrative problems, in the view of many, is the convoluted governance structure outlined in the authority’s Governance Manual and 2012 Base Plan.  This structure leaves the region’s mayors taking political heat but having little control.  Public and media blame the TransLink Mayors’ Council for the system’s failings,  but the council lacks even a dedicated staff person at the transit corporation’s offices.  Annual operating plans are devised by a Board, which is  appointed by a revolving Panel.  The mayors “review and provide input.” Continue reading →

Uptown: Density at the centre of Metro Van

April 12, 2012 By in New Westminster, Urban Villages Project Tags: , 1 Comment

Uptown New Westminster was built to function as a city centre, providing shopping and employment for the city of New West and adjacent pieces of Burnaby, but its success in that regard has been mixed.  It works better as an urban village for the thousands who live within walking distance.

Present-day Uptown dates from 1954, when a new Woodward’s Department Store opened on Sixth Avenue and began to suck the life from the old downtown on Columbia Street.  The New West Library followed, and diverse small retailers.  The commercial architecture is something like that of European towns that were bombed and rebuilt.  Functional, let’s call it.

My co-tourist in Uptown was my sister Ellen Heaney, who has worked at the library for 38 years.  We ate at the Belmont Bakery and Bistro, a good tea shop in the grandmotherly style.  The area is well set up for seniors, with transit, recreation, shops and cafes.  New Westminster has the highest concentration of rental dwellings in Metro Vancouver — 46 per cent of the housing stock [from the federal census, 2011), compared with about 25 per cent in neighbourhing Coquitlam, Richmond and Surrey. Continue reading →