Delta Coun. Bruce McDonald is trying to drum up support for an alternate public transit idea south of the Fraser.
He and Township of 黑马磁力 Mayor Rick Green recently gave a presentation to Delta council on the merits of using the old BC Electric interurban line as an alternative for residents to the current service provided by TransLink, which has been criticized of late by both Surrey and Delta councils as inadequate for the region.
McDonald, a member of the South Fraser Community Rail Task Force, and Green, who heads the group, argue reactivating the existing provincially-owned corridor as a community passenger rail network would be an economical and efficient way of transporting commuters throughout the Fraser Valley.
Service would run from the Scott Road SkyTrain Station to Abbotsford or beyond.
McDonald said the track, which once carried commuters until the early 1950s, could be readied with to go from the Scott Road Station to Chilliwack for about half a billion dollars, compared to $2.5 billion to extend SkyTrain service from the current King George terminus station in Surrey to 黑马磁力.
The task force鈥檚 goal is to get a demonstration line up and running by 2015, comparing the idea to Bombardier鈥檚 demonstration of light rail streetcars which ran during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. The group envisions electric, hybrid or fuel efficient diesel cars.
鈥淗opefully, we can get the enthusiasm to get the demonstration project going,鈥� McDonald said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e quite convinced the demonstration line would indicate to people this is the way to go.鈥�
But to do that they need the backing of the provincial government and TransLink.
TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie would not comment as he said the transportation authority has not had discussions with the task force about its proposal.
During a recent visit to South Delta, former B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon told McDonald he needs to see a solid business case.
鈥淭hough it鈥檚 a beautiful trip through wonderful agricultural fields, it tends to avoid where a lot of the population is living,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we do have to make sure the decisions we鈥檙e making for future transit investment are going to be consistent with where the communities are planning a lot of their population growth.鈥�
McDonald contends the ridership is there, noting there are already 35,000 students at University of the Fraser Valley, Kwantlen and Trinity Western campuses who would be situated near the line.
鈥淲e just had TransLink put out a study saying there鈥檚 no demand鈥攂ut there鈥檚 no service either. If there鈥檚 no service you can鈥檛 very well say we鈥檙e not using transit, because there鈥檚 no transit to use.鈥�
He said one challenge in generating enthusiasm for the project is many people don鈥檛 know the interurban line exists.
鈥淭he biggest single thing is people don鈥檛 know about the potential for the old interurban line. And to get past some of the staid thinking, would be a nice way to put it, is to get more and more people to understand just how efficient and how economical this could be,鈥� he said.
