Regardless of what campaigners on the “Yes” side of the Lower Mainland transit referendum may be telling us, voting “Yes” in the referendum won’t instantly fix all of our transportation problems.
Meanwhile, the “No” side has been telling us that a tax for transit amounts to throwing good money after bad because TransLink runs transit, and TransLink is broken.
So, our alternatives are to either vote “Yes” and get a partial and very expensive transit fix — without getting to the root cause of the problem. Or to vote “No” and get no fix — and still not get to the root cause of the problem.
The fact is both transit and TransLink have to be fixed. Or do they?
Sometimes, when something is too badly broken, you’re best to just throw it away. The transit system needs a lot of expensive work done, and it’s worth it to do. But TransLink belongs in a dumpster.
How did we, as voters, allow our governments to create two-tiered transportation in B.C.? Why is the Lower Mainland set aside from the rest of the province?
TransLink operates like our school boards: the provincial government hamstrings its budget, claims credit when it works, and the rest of the time… well… “It’s not our fault, TransLink did it.”
It’s long past time to dissolve TransLink into the B.C. ministry in charge of transportation.
