Archive for August 22nd, 2017
“TransLink expands Metro Vancouver bus service by 105,000 service hours”
The headline comes from a Vancouver Sun article. There is not much in the way of context – other than two previous announcements of smaller increases earlier this year and a reference to the Mayor’s plan for expansion.
So I went to the Translink web site and dug out the 2016 Transit Service Performance Review which informed me that last year Translink delivered 3,897,000 bus service hours, which was a 1% increase on 2015 – which is also the compound annual growth rate for the last five years.
Which means that was has been announced is a 0.02% increase in bus service, if we assume that all these quoted figures are annualised. And, of course in 2017, it is less than that since these new service hours will only be delivered in the last quarter of the year.
So good, that we are getting more bus service in this region. But the rate of population growth is “6.5 per cent since the last census in 2011” (also a Vancouver Sun report, but of census data). So we are only just keeping pace with the increase in the number of people, let alone making a bigger impact on transportation trip making (“mode share” in planning jargon).
So one cheer for Translink and raspberries to Postmedia for simply printing a press release without any analysis.
We must commit to a much faster increase in transit use – which means more service hours for buses, more transit services of all kinds and much more priority for buses operating in traffic – which is most of them, most of the time. Just to give you some idea of what the plan needs to look like, take a gander at this new expansion map for Sound Transit.
Translink now has the details of the September sheet change online
BC Natural Gas Revenues
The graph comes from a tweet by Eric Neilson.
When you listen to Carole James present her interim budget in the fall this picture is what you need to bear in mind.
Merv Adey and Blogging
There is a tribute to blogger Merv Adey on the Georgia Straight web page. Merv blogged at BCVeritas and was very active on twitter where he contributed a lot to the hashtag #bcpoli. He also followed me there, which I found a great compliment.
But when I read Charlie Smith’s piece I was most taken with his final paragraphs.
Merv chose another path in life. But I have no doubt that had he been given the breaks that I received, he would have reached a much larger audience than he ever did on his blog. Not that this ever bothered him.
I only tell this story as a reminder to mainstream media journalists out there to respect bloggers like Merv, Laila Yuile, and Norm Farrell, even when they’re scorching your work.
Just because someone has a comfy position in the press gallery or hosts a talk show or edits a newspaper or has a column doesn’t necessarily mean they’re more talented, have deeper insights, or they’re a better writer or superior researcher than a blogger like Merv.
It might only mean that they got lucky when they were young because someone offered them a job when these types of jobs were far more available.
Merv often demonstrated a great deal of humility in his writing. Let that stand as an example to the rest of us.
Stephen Rees's blog 