11 Dec Transportation and Transit Referendum Question
The Metro Vancouver Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation has approved and announced the question for the 2015 transportation referendum ballot. The text of the proposed question is:
Transportation and Transit Referendum
Cut Congestion * Better Service * More Buses and Rapid Transit
One million more people will live and work in Metro Vancouver by 2040. The region;s mayors worked together to develop a plan to reduce congestion on roads and bridges and to provide more transit to communities across the region.
The Mayor’s Transportation and Transit Plan will:
- Add more bus service to crowded routes and add new routes in growing areas
- Increase service on SkyTrain, Canada Line, SeaBus, and West Coast Express
- Add 11 new B-Line rapid bus routes, with fast and frequent service connecting town centres
- Maintain and upgrade the region’s major roads
- Build a new, earthquake-ready Pattullo Bridge
- Building light rail transit connecting Surrey Centre with Guilford, Newton, and Langley
- Extend the Millennium Line tunneled along Broadway
- Improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists
Revenues raised through this referendum, together with Provincial and Federal contributions, will be dedicated to the Plan Revenues and expenditures will be subject to annual independent audits and public reporting.
“Do you support a one-half percentage point (0.5%) increase to the Provincial Sales Tax in Metro Vancouver, dedicated to the Mayors’ Transportation and Transit Plan, with independent audits and public reporting?”
The question will be put to voters in a mail-in referendum next spring, pending approval from the provincial government. The referendum was a B.C Liberal campaign promise in the May 2013 election. The full Mayor’s Council vision that will be funded if the referendum is successful is available on their website.
The DVA’s position in the transportation referendum is that mobility—like water—is essential infrastructure to sustain urban society.