A Streetcar Named Anton

Streetcars are just cool to me.

I love the idea of an integrated, community-based, electric-powered public transportation system. It just pushes us toward sustainability and makes us actually appreciate the neighbourhood we live in.

It doesn’t cut a city in half like a highway or SkyTrain and its more environmentally friendly and typically a little faster than buses.

It even adds that bit of pizazz that makes a city unique.

So when NPA mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton says she wants to make the False Creek streetcar (Olympic demo pictured) a reality, it makes me perk up.

The proposed line somewhat matches suggestions from Translink plans for the Broadway corridor (a couple of the suggestions utilize streetcars), with routes running from Granville Island, through Olympic Village, to Science World. It then proceeds to Gastown and into downtown. Their map shows extensions into Yaletown and to Stanley Park.

And this all sounds fantastic to me. The potential extensions provide extra lines through downtown, and I could foresee the Arbutus track that runs only a couple blocks from my condo being converted to a streetcar line with little difficulty.

Then comes reality:

According to the NPA, the network would be funded through a public-private partnership, with costs estimated at about $81 million for the track, and another $21 million for the purchase of six streetcars.

Public-private partnerships (P3s) make me take a huge pause.

Their track record (get it?) is spotty at best. Designed to save costs and time, they are trumpeted by right-wing parties as the best way to do infrastructure projects. Some projects, like the Canada Line, were resounding success on this front, while others, like the Olympic Village, failed on nearly every front.

But even despite the successful construction of the Canada Line, the P3 model excluded local consultation, and the ensuing construction along Cambie Street greatly angered local businesses. Similar concerns are very pertinent for a streetcar line through downtown, which would interrupt the day-to-day life of everyone along the route.

The consultation is just the thing though. Anton’s plan, while promising, suggests ramming through a streetcar line with no due process – similar to how she criticized construction of the Hornby bike lane. This is why Vision councillor Geoff Meggs brings us the soggy rag of reality.

Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs called Anton’s plan to fast-track a streetcar network “a really costly pipe dream”.

Meggs argued the region’s priority should be moving forward with a transit strategy for the Broadway corridor. One option that has been proposed by TransLink, he noted, would incorporate streetcar service from VCC Clark, past Olympic Village to Arbutus and Broadway.

“We have an opportunity to deliver some relief as early as next year to people who are jammed on buses and SkyTrain by pushing through the moving forward supplement that TransLink has proposed,” Meggs told the Straight by phone.

“That’s a much cheaper and more practical alternative for our riders who are underserved on Broadway in a terrible way. We have more ridership on buses right now in the Broadway corridor than the millennium line carries on SkyTrain.”

…

Meggs panned the P3 proposal, arguing that the private sector “doesn’t give money to government”.

“There’s no free ride here, there’s no free lunch,” he said. “We would pay for the line with fare box revenues and that kind of thing.”

“I think it’s the wrong priority at the wrong time, and the streetcar option that we should pursue is the one that’s available if we’re able to move through the current funding discussion and get to the Broadway corridor,” he added.

I almost reluctantly have to agree with Meggs. As much as I really want a streetcar, we need to do things rationally and involve the community in the discussions.

My only qualifier is that at some point I think we do need some vision and leadership. Obviously, it needs to be balanced with some democratic input, but without that ambition to actually get it done, we’ll be stuck in endless debates. Robertson had this when he got the Burrard Bridge bike lane moving forward, and I hope Vision/COPE candidates will not waste the opportunity to move forward on transit in Vancouver.