At a press conference today in Burnaby, Justin Trudeau announced that extensive funding from the federal and provincial governments will be directed towards transit efforts in Metro Vancouver. While the Broadway Skytrain line — a transit initiative at the forefront of UBC students’ minds — was not extensively touched on, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson announced that it was one of the projects slotted for the first three years of the mayor’s 10-year plan for transit.
“About $157 million is dedicated to get those projects [the Broadway line and rapid transit line in Surrey] on track to be fully funded and breaking ground within 18 months, which will be a fantastic next build on our rapid transit network,” said Robertson during the press conference.
However, Patrick Condon — a professor of urban design at UBC — says that students should not be too excited about the Broadway subway line. Rather, he notes that with the current amount of funding, which is far below the amount the mayor said was needed, the line — and other transit projects on the list — will likely take closer to 30 years to complete.
“Everybody is very enthusiastic about this funding package that’s come along, and not sufficient attention has been placed on how much less the annual amount of money is that what was assumed for the Mayor’s Council 10-year plan,” said Condon.
He explained that there is also no guarantee of funding after those three years.
“Let’s assume that that amount of $250 million dollars was available per year for however long it would take to build a $7.5 billion dollar plan,” explained Condon, pulling the first figure from an expected combination of federal, provincial, and local contributions. “That means it would take about 30 years to build the mayor’s plan. So instead of being a 10-year plan, logic suggests that it would be a 30-year plan.”
Trudeau, BC premier Christy Clark and many representatives of the various Vancouver jurisdictions were present at the press conference. The new Liberal government has committed to providing $370 million for transit improvements in Metro Vancouver.
A more thorough breakdown of the announced transit funding sees $58 million of the investment allotted for the Surrey light rail transit project, $99 million to the Broadway subway, and $255 million to the expansion of the number of Skytrain rail cars and adding another Seabus between North Vancouver and downtown.
The Broadway Corridor is the busiest bus route in North America. According to Vision Vancouver, “a Broadway Subway would carry 250,000 transit trips on its first day, and remove 50,000 car trips from our roads.”
The discussion of a Broadway line has been discussed for years. “It’s still unclear ... when funding might be available or when the project might get off the ground,” reported Andrew Bates in a 2012 article in The Ubyssey. The funding investment announced today will not fully cover the line going across Broadway from Commercial to Arbutus, estimated to cost $1.9 billion, but rather the first steps of the initiative.
Condon also noted that even after the Broadway Skytrain line is paid for and constructed, it will not reach all the way to the university.
“Even at the end of this project, the transit line would only come as far as Arbutus, requiring a transfer there. So 30 years to wait for a project that gets us only to Arbutus is a very very long time to wait indeed.”
According to today’s press conference, the government is currently working on phase two of the 10-year plan — the completion of which will be confirmed in the months ahead.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.