Bus service may be halved: TransLink

Apropos of my Transit post this morning, try this:



Frank Luba
The Province


Thursday, August 07, 2008


Looming cuts at TransLink are a big concern for bus drivers' union boss Don
MacLeod.

"It's always the bus service they go to first," said MacLeod, president of
Local 111 of the Canadian Auto Workers.

"We make all these commitments and promises but we have no money to support
it," he said of TransLink plans.

Provincial legislation requires TransLink to have a balanced budget, so when
its accumulated surplus of $400 million runs out in 2011, there will have to
be $150 million annually in cuts.

For "simplicity," according to the transportation authority's recently
passed 10-year transportation and financial plan, that massive cut is
achieved by cutting more than half the region's bus services.

There are 4.181 million bus-service hours scheduled for 2008 and that total
is projected to grow to 4.722 million by 2011. In 2012, and out to 2018,
that number is chopped to 2.122 million.

"If expenditure reductions are required, we would effect a reduction through
a combination of reduced bus service, roads funding and administration and
program support costs," reads the plan.

The bus service, which carries about 80 per cent of transit users,
represents the biggest opportunity for cuts with an expected expenditure in
2011 of $668 million.

TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie identified annual administration costs at $48
million to $49 million and funding for the road network at $55 million.

"Ultimately, there's not nearly enough money in those budgets to offset the
$150 million," said Hardie.

"Our goal is to not cut anything."

But unless a ready source of ongoing funding materializes, there have to be
cuts.

"After 2011, we'd have to find $150 million in savings somewhere," said
Hardie. "Some would come from programs and some would come from service."

There was a huge outcry in 2001 when TransLink cut just 160,000 hours of
service in response to not getting its reviled vehicle levy approved.

Looking for a Miracle

Hi Jesse

What has happened here in Fairview along the Canada Line route - in a
democracy that is brimming with money for every Olympic whim of our
Premier - is a travesty.
It was preventable and most definitely undemocratic.

The world will be watching, and looking for examples of the consequences
both good and bad of bringing the games to our city. After three years of
suffering, and of having our concerns dismissed then whitewashed with pretty
banners, this Liberal totalitarian regime could still do the right thing and
reimburse us for this negligence.

There is no excuse for the meanspirited abuse of power that has resulted in
the near collapse of all we have built up over years.

I am already talking to foreign press who are very interested in stories
from small businesses - like the one about the hardworking, tax paying,
involved in the community single mom who was forced to take the unthinkable
step of legal action against every level of government - while losing
hundreds of thousands of dollars and nearly losing her 25 year old
business - lied to and continually mislead about a several Billion dollar
way over budget transportation project that was funded, rammed through and
rubber stamped by the government as part of the bid to win the 2010 games.
Film at eleven.

Nothing for Canada (Line) to be proud of - especially in a democracy.

Dr. MacDiarmid understands fully the effectiveness of timely preventative
medicine. The families along the Canada Line route were given a fistfull of
costly placeboes, and have been left to die by the roadside.

The cure for RAV disease is available, and still within the grasp of a
person with itegrity and courage who is trained to assess and heal.
Dr. MacDiarmid has what it takes to be this person.

The malpractice that has occured here will not be forgotten any time soon -
until the appropriate treatment is dispensed. Money. Credit. Rehabilitation.
And in an IV transfused directly into our life's work. The autopsy results
are conclusive.

While the good doctor is making her rounds in our neighbourhood, she will no
doubt be mindful of the consequenses of ignoring the oath to "do no harm".

I guess we're looking for a miracle.
In the meantime I will continue to press forward my legal case for full
compensation.

Regards
Susan Heyes
Hazel&Co
3190 Cambie Street
Vancouver BC
604 687-0721

A Breast of the Times

This is Vancouver's idea of a controversy.

Mothers breast feeding in a clothing store.

Yah, world class city.

Oy.

Would everyone please grow up.

Quote of the Day

Hedy Fry calls her political position "energetic, progessive thinking."

This worst of all MP's in living memory has been elected and re-elected five times.

She has shamelessly courted the gay community in the West End and accomplished nothing substantive of which we are aware.

When will people, gay, straight or purple, realize that simply having some fool gush over you does not mean that he or she has something real to offer. In fact, it is usually a guarantee of the opposite. POepl with real policies feel no need to salivate.

Justice Mockeries on Parade

House arrest for a Hell's Angel associate dealing cocaine.

Oh, and no guns please, sir.

Duh?

Tom Sandborn, filling in for vacationing Allen Garr in the Courier, reminds us that Mayor Sullivan promised to reduce Translink fares.

Of course, that never happened.

Instead, fares have risen and service continues to decline.

The Premier's carbon tax is a long-winded route to a cleaner environment. It doesn't work.

Reduce transit fares, improve service at whatever cost. That's why we already pay taxes.

Then more people will ride the system.

World Class Chumps

Vaughn Palmer's recounting of Campbell and Co being utterly hoodwinked by a con man and scheister is so hysterical you simply have to read it to believe it.

In honor of which, you will find below Robert Preston and the original stage company's lusty version of "76 Trombones" from "The Music Man," an homage to con men and country hicks everywhere.

76 Trombones!