LRT vs SkyTrain costs used by UBC professor are misleading
- Media Release
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- For immediate release — October 8, 2011
A significant number of people remain misinformed about SkyTrain expansion and the actual costs of light rail.
In a news report aired on CTVBC just in July, Patrick Condon—a landscape architecture professor at UBC—claimed that SkyTrain along the Evergreen Line corridor would cost $200 million per kilometre, while a “modern tram” could be implemented for just $20 million per kilometre.
However, both statements are factually inaccurate.
The Evergreen Line project website states that the project will cost $1.4 billion for 11 kilometres of SkyTrain [26]—this works out to about $127 million per kilometre, not the $200 million per kilometre that Condon said on CTV.
As for Condon’s light rail cost estimate of $20 million per km, TransLink has previously estimated the cost of electric light rail transit running at-grade on the BCER Interurban corridor (a pre-existing corridor with no land acquisition requirements) at a higher $27 million per km [27]—and unlike the Interurban, there is no pre-existing ROW on the Evergreen Line corridor that rail transit could use.
In reality, light rail along the Evergreen Line corridor would operate alongside traffic and require rebuilding of the street at significant cost. Furthermore, as part of the Evergreen Line will run through Burnaby Mountain in order to reach Coquitlam city centre, the project includes an expensive bored tunnel regardless of whether SkyTrain or light rail is built.
Mayor Watts also misleads the public on traffic congestion caused by buses
In another portion of the same report, CTV turns to our light rail supporting mayor for a comment:
For Mayor Watts to suggest that adding buses will only congest the roadways—but that her light rail proposal, which will remove traffic lanes on busy roads like 104 Avenue, will not increase congestion—is completely and categorically false and misleading.
We agree that buses are no longer enough for Surrey. However, building a street-running light rail system that removes traffic lanes will categorically increase congestion.
We have one chance to answer the question of how we should expand transit in this area. Only a SkyTrain system will truly decrease congestion by improving travel times and being fast and competitive with automobile travel.
Footnotes
- “Evergreen Line Facts.” Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project. B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, 2011. Web. 8 Oct 2011. <http://www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/facts.htm>.
- Spencer, Kent. “BC Organizers Promote Light Rail in Fraser Valley”. Canada.com. Quoted from the original – currently not available on Canada.com. Web. 26 Sep 2011. <http://hamiltonlightrail.com/bc_organizers_promote_light_rail_in_fraser_valley>.
- “Debunking [further] myths.” UBC SkyTrain Group page. UBC SkyTrain Group, 29 Apr 2009. Web. 8 Oct 2011. <http://ubcskytrain.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/debunking-further-myths/>.
- “2010 FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE REPORT [PDF].” TransLink, 31 Dec 2010. Web. 8 Oct 2011. <http://www.translink.ca/~/media/documents/about_translink/governance_and_board/board%202011/year_end_report_2010.ash>.
About SkyTrain for Surrey
SkyTrain for Surrey is the community organization that advocated for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. From our beginnings as a petition calling for the scrapping of a street-level LRT proposal, we grew into a community of like-minded folk, taking on various projects such as making SkyTrain an election issue in 2018 as a registered advocacy group. SkyTrain for Surrey continues to call for high-quality transit infrastructure projects serving Surrey, Delta and the Langleys.
Media Contact:
Daryl Dela Cruz – Founder, SkyTrain for Surrey
Phone: +1 604 329 3529, [email protected]