Drivers may have to pay to enter downtown Vancouver | Vancouver Sun

[Ediacara]

Drivers may have to pay to enter downtown
TransLink: The proposal is one of a number of contingency plans for the region

Maurice Bridge
Vancouver Sun

Saturday, February 21, 2004


North end of Oak Street bridge is just one
spot in region's overloaded transportation
web where a lot of people aren't going any-
where fast.
CREDIT: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun

Downtown-bound drivers could see a London-style traffic-congestion charge of as much as 60 cents a trip within a decade if regional transportation authorities fail to tap other revenue sources.

In England, motorists entering congested central London have been charged a daily fee equivalent to about $12.50 Cdn for the past year.

TransLink chairman Doug McCallum was quick to play down the possibility of a fee as only a contingency plan, saying it is "one of five or six options." Other officials agreed it remains a remote prospect.

More at the Vancouver Sun

[mouse7]

1. More of the rich getting door to door service, while poor walk

What crap.

[freeforall]

6. Well, look at the bright side...

The "poor" will get more exercise and be in better physical condition for walking.

I notice that the article says that they want to charge a fee in the next decade. So what? Do I need to hear about it now, then?

[progressivebydesign]

2. It's the City's fault it's like that.. let them pay!

Vancouver has been pretty much destroyed by vertical development. What was once a very, very fun and charming city is now so congested, because the City allowed hideous towers of condos all through the neighborhoods around the City. When you start stacking thousands of people in a city, you impact the traffic and parking irrevokably. It's a shame.. such a beautiful location.. Seattle is heading in that direction now.. condo tower monstrosities for the ulta-hip/rich are springing up around the city... Portland, Oregon has the right idea.. they cherish their older buidlings, and resisted the rush to go vertical.

[Ediacara]

3. They should install left hand turn lanes and lights

In my experience, that's the one and only problem with Vancouver traffic.

There's no left hand turn lanes, and one person in front of you stops the whole line of traffic from going through a green light because he wants to take a left, yet the city can't install left hand turn lanes.

The problem is not too many cars, it's poorly designed streets.

[Tripper11]

5. You are soooo right DinoBoy....

that was the first thing I noticed when I moved to vancouver years ago. O left turns anywhere, poor planning and no freaking logic.
I still love Vancouver and hope to eventually move back the the area, but it sure has changed a lot on 10 years too.

[Sufi Marmot]

8. Clever Vancouver drivers...

figure out how to get where they're going without taking left turns unless they're at a major intersection.

-SM, clever Vancouver driver... ;-)

[MrPrax]

4. Once a very, very fun...

and charming city...once.

Your're right..that is indeed of the huge problems with Van and that is one of many reasons why I left.

It will never change as long as the developers hold sway...

The 'vertical development' as well as the artificially low densities South of 12th have only created a speculator's market (huge rents) and traffic/smog is a major problem.

The fact the GVRD is still carved up like so many little fiefdoms doesn't help with developing any viable urban planning scheme

[Sufi Marmot]

7. Well - your other option is suburban sprawl...

Many of the urban planners in Vancouver say that Vancouver needs to get a lot MORE dense, rather than less dense, to limit the suburban sprawl which is already creeping up the Fraser Valley, and so that more people will live and work in the same area and not have to commute from suburbia into the city. I would argue that building more high-density housing out in the suburbs would be a good idea as well, as it would limit commutes. The Fraser Valley has fairly bad air pollution in the summer.

Remember, Vancouver is constricted on 2 sides: you can only build outward (upward) so much in North Van before the mountains become too steep (and marauding bears nab too many pets...), and west of Vancouver is the Straight of Georgia. South is Richmond/Delta, which used to be farmland but much of which is being turned into single-family monster houses, fast food restaurants, and shopping mauls, er, malls...

Portland, Oregon has the right idea.. they cherish their older buidlings, and resisted the rush to go vertical. Vancouver has few older buildings that are worth cherishing...

-SM

[progressivebydesign]

11. I don't think you can stop suburban/urban sprawl..

Not all people want to live in the city, or in condos.. which are pretty much all that is being built there now. People want houses and lawns.. Public transportation, and perhaps the development of more towns outside of the City would help to spread the traffic around.

[Sufi Marmot]

13. I agree about public transit...

Vancouver could use a much better mass transit system, both within the city and out into the suburbs. But if people aren't willing to finance it, and are insistant on houses and lawns, then they're going to have to put up with lengthy commutes and air pollution. Or I guess chosing to work in the suburbs might be an option for some. Unfortunately Vancouver is unique in that it simply can't expand in 2 of the 4 directions that most cities can expand into.

-SM

[progressivebydesign]

12. Oh.. I do love the old building they've kept around...

.. too bad that the 70's destroyed a lot of great old buildings. I do love the Sylvia Hotel, in its ivy covered creakiness... I loved the old apartment buildings and homes around Stanley Park, before they were torn down to make 30 story condos for the affluent.

[chenGOD]

9. I would much rather they stack them vertically...

Than expand the cities horizontally. If it means people have to sit in traffic jams, too bad. Vancouver needs to improve it's public transportation infrastructure. It definitely needs a modern subway system.
But no more urban sprawl. I'd rather rip down old building and keep old growth.

[progressivebydesign]

10. Some vertical development can work..

but when you pack skyscraper condos on every inch of property, totally to the lot lines.. you have added thousands of people per block.. rather than a typical neighborhood block with maybe a 100 or so people.

The left turn thing is really so wrong! I took lots of right turns last time I visited.

No one wants suburban sprawl.. but packing thousands of people per block, at least 2 cars per household.. is a nightmare.

Public transportation in Vancouver? All I saw was a busline.. and creaky old one, at that. I prefer the Kitsilano area, which has grown a lot in the past 20 years, but still managed to keep some charm, and some wonderful older houses.

[Sufi Marmot]

14. Kitsilano, etc...

but when you pack skyscraper condos on every inch of property, totally to the lot lines.. you have added thousands of people per block.. rather than a typical neighborhood block with maybe a 100 or so people. Which is a good thing for the downtown area as it's an efficient use of space, and downtown already has lots of skyscrapers anyway. There are lots of public places in Vancouver to enjoy the view which will never be developed: Stanley Park seawall, the stretch from Kits beach all the way to Wreck Beach, Queen Elizabeth Park, etc.)


I prefer the Kitsilano area, which has grown a lot in the past 20 years, but still managed to keep some charm, and some wonderful older houses.. None of which are affordable for most younger couples, unfortunately, even those with two incomes. They all start at around $600,000 and go up from there. My boss lives in one...

-SM

[chenGOD]

15. Public transportation is a vital necessity

which Canada in general is sorely lacking in (Certainly Edmonton, Calgary Vancouver and Victoria; I'm not as familiar with the eastern parts of Canada having never been further east than Winnipeg).
And I'd like to say that I would much rather live in the "nightmare" you describe than have massive suburban sprawl. Just for a quick reference, I live in Seoul, which has a population of 12 million plus. They have a brilliant public transporatation system. I don't think the crowds have done anything negative to my mental health.
I re-iterate my point that preserving the natural habitat surrounding Vacnouver (of which there is much, and it is of great beauty) is much more valuable to me than the state of trafic in Vancouver.

Stuff like this link below just burns me:
http://media.wildernesscommittee.org/news/2004/02/649.php