CAET Presentation

1
CAET Presentation

• Coquitlam Council November 5th 2007

2
We Believe

• We are the generation that developed
  technologies, and we are the generation that must
  face the issue of clean efficient transit. It is
  imperative that we employ technologies that will
  induce following generations to use mass, fast,
  and effective both financially and operationally
  efficient transit. It is both our responsibility
  and mandate to conceive, design and employ an
  integrated network of transit systems that
  reduces our dependency on the automobile, we will
  never remove it, but we must reduce it, we must
  make public transit a viable, fast, efficient,
  cost effective alternative.
• We believe that good public policy requires
  properly defining problems, developing solutions
  and connecting objectives with spending. We do
  not believe a light rail streetcars in the Tri
  Cities certainly does not fit the description of
  good public policy.
• We believe the answer to having the public become
  adopters of a technology for transit is a very
  simple one. Make it fast and efficient and get
  people where they're going at a minimum, as fast
  or faster as if they drove."
• We recognize that at this time, rapid transit
  must be synergistic with the automobile it cannot
  be seen to compete with it.
• LRT IS THE WRONG TECHNOLOGY FOR OUR APPLICATION.

3
Methodology and Process

• CAET supports the need for rapid transit in the
  Tri Cities region 100 .
• CAET draws its support from Maple Ridge to UBC,
  from West Vancouver to White Rock.
• During the past 3 years CAET has spent 100s of
  hours in meetings with Municipal, Provincial and
  Federal politicians, School Boards, Chamber of
  Commerce,the Translink Board and most importantly
  the electorate
• CAET has spent more then a 1,000 hours reviewing
  TransLink tender documents, other jurisdictions
  operations and transportation studies from North
  America and Europe and had more then a dozen
  articles published.

4
LRT Sites Reviewed
Stuttgart
San Francisco
Calgary
Bucharest
Portland
Strasbourg
Houston
Edmonton
Denver
St Louis
5
Decsion Points 1

• Ridership Delay "The North East Sector is among
  the regions fastest growing sector, population
  growth has outpaced the regional average growing
  125 since 1976 and the trend is expected to
  continue". We must ask the question why would be
  build a slower transit system then what we have
  built for the rest of the region? Translinks
  latest report states - " the estimated LRT travel
  time is 24 minutes" it should be noted that the
  Translink board report of October 2004 confirmed
  the Skytrain travel time as 12.7 minutes and in
  CAET's estimation will burden the ridership with
  an extra 85 hours of travel time per year
  equating to an extra travel time cost of 994.70
  per rider per year.

6
Decsion Points 2

• Regional Acceptance "In a recent newspaper study
  75 of the participants felt manual street cars
  were not worth the 980,000,000. Translinks
  latest study confirmed 74 of survey participants
  preferred Skytrain" It must be noted that in the
  Acceptability of Preferred Choice of Technologies
  Skytrain was ranked first at 60 and LRT ranked
  third behind GLT at 17 while 85 of the Tri
  Cities region expressed satisfaction with
  Skytrain

7
Decsion Points 3

• BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT From Translinks latest
  business plan " Skytrain generates greater
  ridership and travel benefits" " Skytrain has
  proven to be an effective tool to encourage
  population growth 13 faster then the regional
  averages If one just draws circles around each
  of the proposed station locations and then
  applies the Skytrain regional growth statistics
  to the areas then can be no further argument that
  streetcars have a greater contiguous growth
  potential.
• TRANSLINK RESPONSE Mr. Malcolm Brodie Chairmen
  of Translink responded to CAET's briefing
  document submission and board presentation. In
  his response he stated "In essence, the process
  agreed with many if not all of your conclusions
  that SkyTrain out performed the other options in
  areas of travel time and the attendant financial
  benefits." He further indicated "In terms of
  financial and non-financial benefits (ridership
  and customer service) SkyTrain provides the
  highest benefits, having the most capacity and
  faster travel times".

8
Decsion Points 4

• Pedestrian/Vehicle Safety "SkyTrain is ranked
  the best in terms of road safety because it is
  completely separate from vehicle traffic. One
  must only be reminded that all aspects of safety
  issues pertaining to LRT specifically the issues
  relating to semi-exclusive rights of way and the
  higher incidence of accident severity between low
  speed and high speed 55 km intersections, of
  note at the high speed intersection crossings 29
  of all pedestrian/LRT accidents and 17 of all
  vehicular accidents resulted in fatalities.

9
Decsion Points 5

• ONE Billion Dollars The cost of LRT now far
  exceeds the cost estimates for ALRT, all initial
  studies by Translink and their independent
  consultants stated the SE corridor was the least
  expensive, would attract the highest ridership
  and would be the most profitable. Environmentally
  it was the best choice. One can only conclude
  that when logic is applied the only reason for
  LRT through the NE corridor was to protect the
  ridership of the West Coast Express. Translinks
  internal report states that if Skytrain was to
  proceed the WCE could face a cannibalization of
  its ridership upto 30
• It should be noted that for the cost of LRT we
  can purchase two fully equipped with artwork
  Prestige Class Holland America Cruise ships and
  still have enough money to have wheels put under
  them and run them up and down St. Johns Street.

10
Question ?

• One must only ask this question During rush with
  tandem street cars each 103ft long, each carrying
  100 passengers, each weighing a loaded 91,000
  lbs, how long will it take and how far will it
  travel to stop in an intersection traveling at
  the the speed of
• 15 Kmh ?
• 30 Kmh ?
• 50 kmh ?
• The answer is that a 1,000,000,000 transit
  system that costs .002 a day less then the
  significantly faster, higher capacity ALRT, LRT
  is the wrong application of a technology for
  Coquitlams needs and should scare every voter in
  Coquitlam. Accordingly we ask this council the
  following

Recommendation
WHEREAS citizens of Coquitlam have responded in
large numbers that they are uninterested in a
compromise "at grade system" and would prefer
waiting until the NE Sector receives sufficient
funding to complete the elevated Millennium Line
from Lougheed Mall to Coquitlam Town Centre, we
ask this council to notify both the Provincial
Government of BC and Translink that LRT is not
acceptable for our City and that we expect no
less the ALRT.
11
What we do not want

• Overhead wires on our streets.
• Kilometer after Kilometer of fencing down each
  side of street car tracks.
• 200 foot long 61 meter long street cars
  crossing our intersections do the calculation
  at 15Km an hour how long does it add to an
  intersections stoppage especially when it must
  control the lights.
• An added traffic danger to our streets at a cost
  that would fund the Tri Cities school budget for
  five years.

12
What we were promised

• A synergistic, seamless network of rapid transit
  

13
What we, Coquitlam, are getting

• A slow, stand alone, manual system that will
  block our streets and intersections that costs
  1,000,000,000 that runs down the middle of
  streets that we do not want