Comments on: TriTAG Urges Region of Waterloo to Cut the Gas Tax Budget for Sprawl http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2009/12/08/tritag-urges-region-of-waterloo-to-cut-the-budget-for-sprawl/ Walking, Cycling, and Transit in the Tri-Cities Wed, 16 May 2012 13:41:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Michael Druker http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2009/12/08/tritag-urges-region-of-waterloo-to-cut-the-budget-for-sprawl/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Michael Druker Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:24:56 +0000 http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2009/12/08/tritag-urges-region-of-waterloo-to-cut-the-budget-for-sprawl/#comment-18 We support both the light rail and improvements to the bus network. The bus network will be redesigned to be more effective through the use of cross-corridors that will connect to the light rail -- which will be used as a spine for the whole transit system. In that capacity, it will be able to operate at a much lower cost per rider than buses do due to lower labour and energy costs. At the same time it will attract substantially more people to transit (as the iXpress is helping do), which will lower pressures on road expansion in the region. The Region already spends about ten times more on roads (most on expansion) than it would spend on a light rail operating subsidy. And that's at opening; once the system is in place, accommodating higher ridership will come at minimal extra costs, while bringing in more fares. The light rail should not be compared with current spending -- it should be compared with a "business as usual" approach. And that approach would necessitate a very large road expansion program to accommodate growth. It is cheaper as well as better for the regional economy and environment to build the transit infrastructure that will guide the growth to the urban centres. As for the cost of GRT, part of its increase in costs has been its provision of basic transit service as a social good, i.e. more service in Cambridge when it took over from Cambridge Transit. But yes, if you want people to ride transit, you have to provide more than hourly buses on weekdays. It does cost money to provide the kind of frequency of service that makes transit a viable option relative to private cars. We support both the light rail and improvements to the bus network. The bus network will be redesigned to be more effective through the use of cross-corridors that will connect to the light rail — which will be used as a spine for the whole transit system. In that capacity, it will be able to operate at a much lower cost per rider than buses do due to lower labour and energy costs. At the same time it will attract substantially more people to transit (as the iXpress is helping do), which will lower pressures on road expansion in the region. The Region already spends about ten times more on roads (most on expansion) than it would spend on a light rail operating subsidy. And that’s at opening; once the system is in place, accommodating higher ridership will come at minimal extra costs, while bringing in more fares.

The light rail should not be compared with current spending — it should be compared with a “business as usual” approach. And that approach would necessitate a very large road expansion program to accommodate growth. It is cheaper as well as better for the regional economy and environment to build the transit infrastructure that will guide the growth to the urban centres.

As for the cost of GRT, part of its increase in costs has been its provision of basic transit service as a social good, i.e. more service in Cambridge when it took over from Cambridge Transit. But yes, if you want people to ride transit, you have to provide more than hourly buses on weekdays. It does cost money to provide the kind of frequency of service that makes transit a viable option relative to private cars.

]]> By: Matthew Phillips http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2009/12/08/tritag-urges-region-of-waterloo-to-cut-the-budget-for-sprawl/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Matthew Phillips Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:52:09 +0000 http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2009/12/08/tritag-urges-region-of-waterloo-to-cut-the-budget-for-sprawl/#comment-14 “Grand River Transit is struggling with an aging fleet of buses and insufficient funding to accommodate existing ridership on its most important routes,” said Mollison. The cost of the GRT to local tax has nearly tripled in the last decade, while ridership has not even doubled. How can TRITag support an increased expenditures and massive construction costs related to streetcars in the Region, when the underlying system is neglected? “Grand River Transit is struggling with an aging fleet of buses and insufficient funding to accommodate existing ridership on its most important routes,” said Mollison.

The cost of the GRT to local tax has nearly tripled in the last decade, while ridership has not even doubled. How can TRITag support an increased expenditures and massive construction costs related to streetcars in the Region, when the underlying system is neglected?

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