Re: “Forget trains, buses answer to gridlock, province says,” April 14.
Local and provincial politicians have perfected the art of backward thinking.
There is not a major city in North America that does not have an effective commuter-train system. Except of course, Victoria and the Capital Regional District.
The City of Ottawa spent millions of dollars on dedicated commuter-bus routes, only to discover they could not handle the growth of commuters. It is now building a new light-rail system.
The City of Toronto GO train system started with one 64-kilometre east-to-west run. The system now extends 160 kilometres in each compass direction. Without the system, Toronto would be in total gridlock.
An effective light-rail commuter system from Langford to the roundhouse would take a huge load off an already gridlocked road system and generate immediate revenue. Upgrading the line to Nanaimo can come later.
Creating an effective neighbourhood-bus feeder system for the rail system would minimize the huge parking issues and take automobile traffic off neighbourhood streets and major roads.
An adequate and unbiased cost-benefit analysis would likely prove the cost of creating this light-rail system would pale by comparison to creating a truly dedicated bus-commuter system. Remember how accurate the Johnson Street Bridge cost estimates were.
This spring, huge dollars were spent to install an elaborate, costly set of automatic crossing signals and gates at the E&N tracks crossing Burnett Road (a dead-end street) in View Royal.
Strange.
Stephen Nielsen
Victoria
