Public Transit Turning Point for Vancouver

If you haven't heard, the Metro Vancouver area in Canada, long considered a model for liveable, sustainable, transit-oriented region-building, is at a historic crossroads. Despite the "lead" that past generations of leaders gave us in the key area of public transit infrastructure, for many years now a political paralysis has sunk in, surrounding the same issue faced by many other city-regions—future transit funding. Whether we still have that lead today is debatable, but now a once-in-a-generation decision is about to be made that could progress us significantly, or set us back much further.

Borrowing a tool used as a last resort in places well behind us in transit planning, like California, the BC Provincial Government has launched a public referendum/plebiscite (it's technically a plebiscite, but is commonly referred to as a referendum) on the new Transit and Transportation Expansion Plan developed by the Council of Metro Vancouver Mayors, and its proposed funding source, a half-percent that would be added to the sales tax.

Most experienced city-makers, myself included, had argued strongly against such a referendum. We cited the inconsistancy of trying to make a complex decision by public vote on just one type of infrastructure (transit and transportation) -- all other infrastructure would continue to be handled through leadership decisions and normal budgets. So why put the "new tax bullseye" on public transit? Given the completely predictable baggage (over-and-above the usual baggage and resistance to increased taxes) that would be brought up to distract the debate and make it a referendum on almost everything except what's on the ballot, I characterized the referendum idea at the time as "throwing our transit future under the bus."

Indeed, the predictions have proved to underestimate how bad it would get. Among other waste and damage done, one of the possible casualties seems to be the public's feelings about public transit itself, in a region that has long appreciated what transit does to positively shape our lives and our home. Many involved in region-building in Canada, again myself included, are now insisting that no matter what happens with this referendum, we should never use this polarizing, wasteful tool for this kind of complex decision-making in Canada again.

Many noted transit and broader city-making experts and leadership voices, and many in the media, have weighed in on the campaign. To give you a sense of that commentary if you're interested, here are a few links to some of the most interesting:

• Jeffrey Simpson: http://m.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/will-vancouver-think-big-on-transit/article23320311/?service=mobile …
• Gordon Price: youtu.be/fDB58q6ehi8 
• Charles Montgomery (Happy City):  http://natpo.st/1MyIpqd 
• Todd Litman: http://www.vtpi.org/VanTransitTax.pdf …
• Brent Toderian:  http://glbn.ca/JKE1m 
• Pete McMartin: http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=10842847 …
• Don Cayo: http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/Cayo+like+sales+hike+here+peek+alternative/10877804/story.html …
• Darren Davis: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/03/transit-referendum-kiwi-perspective/ …
• TriCity News: http://www.tricitynews.com/opinion/296100771.html?mobile=true …
• This Sucks YVR: http://youtu.be/5RIVj4tM4dU

Although I've been weighing in frequently as an individual in the media on why a "Yes" result is critical to our region's and province's future success, it hadn't occurred to me that the referendum should be perceived as an national issue, or even an international one. That changed this week, during the national Board meeting of the Council for Canadian Urbanism (CanU), the national city-making advocacy group for which I'm a co-founder and president.

In a conversation on issues of national importance that we might want to weigh in on, something we do rarely I might add, I had brought up the referendum as an example of a local issue our organization likely WOULDN'T weigh in on. To my surprise, the Board completely disagreed with me -- passionately! They argued that the rest of the country was watching the referendum closely, and nervously, in some cases wondering "if Metro Vancouver can't get its act together on transit funding, what hope do we have?" Or in some cases, other parts of the country were considering using referenda of their own to decide transit funding, not understanding the political context and huge consequences that have underlined our experience. In short, our Board agreed, if nothing else it needed to be said that referenda are a horrible way to make complex decisions about smart region-building in Canada!

Given the Board's passionate feelings about the consequences of the referendum for our family of Canadian cities, a decision was made to prepare an Open Letter supporting a Yes-vote for smart public transit planning and investment. It was released yesterday, creating significant buzz already, particularly in social media. I'm sharing the full contents of that Open Letter with Planetizen readers below.

In my observation, the referendum has resulted in a dumbed down, polarized campaign, rather than a much-needed informed conversation, about how transit shapes our lives, our Region and our future. By sharing our CanU letter and my observations, I'm hoping that informed conversation can still happen—if not here in Metro Vancouver, then in city-regions across the world.

March 12, 2015

Open Letter to The Metro Vancouver Mayors Council:

RE: Metro Vancouver Mayor’s Council Transportation and Transit Plan Plebiscite

The Council for Canadian Urbanism (CanU) is a national non-profit information and advocacy group incorporated in 2009. CanU was founded by and includes many of Canada’s leading urban experts, from the fields of city planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, transportation, community development and related disciplines.

We are writing to add our voice to the many organizations, leaders and citizens who are supporting the proposed Mayors Council Transportation and Transit Plan, and a “Yes” in the related Plebiscite. CanU does not generally take positions on local issues in city-building, however we occasionally provide a position or perspective on issues facing a particular city-region that also have implications for other city-regions across Canada. Given the tremendous challenges in achieving successful public transit and transportation planning, and related funding, that are faced by every city in Canada, and further given the fact that this is the first transportation plebiscite that's been held in the Country, we believe that the quality of the related conversation, and the resulting outcome, is of national interest and will have national implications.

CanU does not support the use of plebiscites or referenda for decision-making in complex issues such as transportation planning or funding. However, given that the B.C. Government has chosen to launch such a plebiscite around transportation, CanU believes it is crucial for the future success of the Region and Province that its citizens choose to vote “Yes.” A “Yes” means Metro Vancouver will improve significantly in mobility, and will continue to grow in a way that provides smart, sustainable and responsible choices and options for future generations and for the future economy. The negative consequences of a no vote would be tremendous for the local Region and Province, and we believe would also be significant for regions across Canada struggling to develop sound plans for funding much-needed public transit investment.

Metro Vancouver has been a model for smart transit-supported planning and design for the rest of the Country and internationally for many decades. Despite this, Metro Vancouver still faces many significant transportation challenges: roads are congested, transit struggles to meet current and growing demand, and people and goods struggle to efficiently move throughout the region. The effects of this traffic congestion affect more than just mobility – it critically affects the Region’s economy, environmental sustainability, social equity, affordability, and public health. In short, it hinders the Region’s success and its citizen’s choices.

The best way to address these mobility challenges is to fund smart public transit investment, while also making decisions, both land use and transportation-related, that support more inviting movement choices through transit, walking and cycling. Given the million plus more people expected to come to Metro Vancouver in the coming decades alone, the failure to strategically invest in public transit and smart mobility would be a huge blow to Metro Vancouver’s ability to address its many needs successfully.

The Mayors Plan, though not perfect, is an excellent package of improvements to position the Region for greater success. Further, the proposed sales tax funding source, though also not perfect, is a reasonable and effective solution to the local circumstances that addresses the usual “regressive” weaknesses of sales tax tools in an overall progressive way (we would encourage the Province to continue to improve the tool by seeking to further adjust the goods and services affected that are particularly important to low income families).

Previous generations of BC and Metro Vancouver leaders made smart choices to invest in public transit in key moments like this, and the current generations of citizens have reason to be very thankful for those past decisions. Those decisions also powerfully inspired cities across Canada to learn from Metro Vancouver’s good example, and to do better themselves. Now it is this generation’s turn.

We have been very impressed with the unprecedented common ground of over a hundred organizations, from all perspectives, political stripes and areas of interest and expertise, in support of a “Yes” vote. We are hard-pressed to think of similar cases in Canada where this has occurred. We are honoured to join that coalition of voices, who are championing a more successful Metro Vancouver, and by extension, a more successful family of Canadian cities. We remain hopeful that a successful outcome in B.C. will have positive repercussions in cities across our Country.

Yours respectfully,

The Council for Canadian Urbanism Board of Directors

CanU's role is to actively promote more successful, sustainable and healthy Canadian cities and urban areas, and to strengthen the role of good urban design across our Nation.