All but two council members voted against the proposal

Delta's Mayor wanted council to study an LRT line in year five of the ten year vision

NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – A motion to study a Light Rail Transit (LRT) line on a Massey Tunnel replacement bridge has been rejected by Metro Vancouver Mayors.

The proposal was put forward by Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, who says the region must think about the thousands of commuters who take the tunnel then hop on transit.

She wanted council to study an LRT line between Richmond and Chilliwack in year five of the ten year vision for Metro Vancouver.

“…because we’re going to need it and I think we should be putting more emphasis on the south side of the river,” says Jackson. “So many of these projects have been done on the north side of the river, and I really think it’s time that we started looking to the future on the south side.”

.@MayorofDelta's motion calls for @TransLink study of Richmond-Chilliwack LRT line in year 5 of 10-year RTP — Lasia Kretzel (@lkretzel1130) July 27, 2017

Jackson claims this would accommodate hundreds of thousands of people and get them out of their cars.

Instead council referred it to the regional transportation strategy update report which will come out next year.

Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore says he didn’t take the motion that seriously, and believes it belongs in Translink’s report.

“I don’t think that’s the way you make planning decisions, by putting the letters of a motion in a poor process. I think it’s a lot of planning that goes into it, we need to engage a lot of people, a lot of stakeholders, a lot of local governments, the provincial government, the federal government making those decisions.”

.@MayorofDelta's motion referred to Regional Transportation Strategy. Several mayors say the plan should not be decided @ Mayor's Council — Lasia Kretzel (@lkretzel1130) July 27, 2017

New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote says the decision on such a big plan shouldn’t be made suddenly in council meetings.

“The referral as the regional transportation plan is about doing a study that includes the whole region and isn’t pinpointing one particular project.”

Jackson claims deferring the proposal to the transportation strategy update was just an “easy way to set it aside.”

“I think it’s been very evident that there has been very little discussion about anything that’s happened particularly through this western corridor whether it’s port traffic or traffic from the border coming up through the tunnel, ferry traffic.”

Township of Langley Jack Froese was the only other council member to support the motion.