Downtown Local Bus Review & News on Funding Regional Transit

Photo by Reva G.

A quick update on a few transit topics we’re following:

1. The City of Vancouver and TransLink are in the midst of a joint study of downtown local bus service to take into account the many changes that have taken place downtown in the past few years. On Friday, they released a summary of what they heard from the public during their consultations in late June and early July of this year. We are following the City and TransLink’s work on this closely, as an extension of our work advocating for permanent pedestrianization of Robson Square while that allows access to downtown destinations for transit users.
2. SFU’s Centre for Dialogue will be holding a series of regional dialogues on mobility pricing as a method of funding the regional transportation system. They will be holding a series of 4 events throughout the region. The one for Vancouver will be held on October 28th, location TBD, with other events in Langley, Burnaby and Surrey. The event is free but registration online is required. (Need a primer on the referendum for funding regional transportation and TransLink? This recent news story from Global News is a nice compact primer.)
3. This past Tuesday, SFU’s Carbon Talks also hosted a panel discussion titled “Running Campaigns, Winning Votes,” on the topic of what’s needed to win the referendum to secure further investment in the transportation system. The speakers on the panel were Denny Zane, Executive Director of Move LA (the coalition that passed Measure R for funding transit in Los Angeles), and Bill Tieleman, who worked on the campaigns against STV and to repeat the HST. The panel was recorded and contains thoughtful analysis into what transit supporters and advocates should keep in mind in talking about the referendum for Metro Vancouver. You can watch it here.

We are need of volunteers to lend a hand in our work with either the local bus review or the topic of regional transit funding. If you would like to get involved, please get in touch with Karen Quinn Fung (quinn AT vancouverpublicspace DOT ca).