All I want for Christmas is …

SkyTrain? To the North Shore?

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Santa just dismisses the idea with the usual merry, non-committal ho, ho, ho, but North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Jane Thornthwaite is so serious about the idea of SkyTrain to North Vancouver that she’s whipped up a brief outlining the idea, and is trying it out in public.

Jane had a major part to play in bringing into reality the $198-million interchange at the foot of the Cut. It will act to separate North Shore traffic from Upper Levels traffic heading east, which is the most significant traffic advance on the North Shore since the traffic light was removed at Westview. (Small, polite “hallelujah.”)

So if she can help unsnarl the Gordian knot at exits 22-23, maybe she can bring SkyTrain to Phibbs Exchange.

I sat down with Jane the other day and she outlined her scheme for SkyTrain. It would travel from the Millennium Line in Burnaby to a remodelled Phibbs Exchange and then, in her mind at least, she has it running east to Maplewood and Cates Park, and west with stops at Lonsdale Quay, Park Royal, Capilano, Ambleside and Dundarave. Then, just to stretch the envelope a bit further, she envisions heading out to Squamish and Whistler.

She’s also ready to settle for buses heading east and west from the SkyTrain drop at Phibbs, but only if they travel in dedicated bus lanes. Otherwise they contribute to, and get stuck in, traffic. I like the idea of going for broke. SkyTrain to Squamish or bust!

If anything exemplifies “pie in the SkyTrain,” it’s this idea. But when you think about it, it’s not such a goofy idea.

The key phrase in Jane’s “A Vision for Rapid Transit on the North Shore” is this one: other municipalities were able to build density only after rapid transit was built; here on the North Shore, we’re being asked to cope with density before getting expansion. “This is ultimately unfair, as the current funding model ensures North Shore residents pay more for less.”

Then she adds: “It’s also unreasonable to expect residents to accept more density, all the while traffic congestion gets worse and worse.”

The way things are going, that’s what we face. Whatever your theory about what causes traffic congestion – density, too many cars, aliens – undeniably, it’s getting worse, and when you add up the number of towers on the drawing board, we’re in for the bounty of density big time.

Add to that the fact that the 10-year transit plan for Metro Vancouver essentially gives the North Shore a miss. The plan calls for increased SeaBus service and B-Line express service on Marine Drive/Main Street. These “improvements” lead me to wonder if any of the authors of the plan have actually been to the North Shore, especially via the SeaBus, which – at best – is quaint.

But quaint we ain’t. The North Shore is about to explode and, as I never tire of telling people, the same nine lanes across the inlet have been serving the three municipalities since Leave it to Beaver was prime time.

So, why not SkyTrain? If it can go to Port Moody, why not the North Shore, which seems, to my admittedly biased eye, to present a more compelling case?

And everybody nods sagely as Vancouver gets its Broadway Line and Surrey gets its light rail, while we get … the S.S. Minnow.

Is it the cost? Jane estimates it will cost a billion dollars, and you could probably double that. But what would it cost to rebuild one of the bridges or drive a third crossing through Coal Harbour? In the immortal words of Carl Sagan – billions and billions.

The rail bridge is already there, right next to the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. Tempting, right?

So far, there’s not a lot of buzz about this idea, which probably indicates the level of enthusiasm among politicians, especially those over town.

But it’s at least worth talking about, because even if SkyTrain is not the answer, neither is the SeaBus. Nor is building more roads for ever more cars. We have to try to entice people out of their cars, and the two foremost criteria are practicality and convenience, (which disqualifies the SeaBus right there). Nothing currently devised beats SkyTrain for practicality and convenience.

So Santa, I encourage you to stop ho-ho-ho-ing and re-evaluate Jane Thornthwaite’s idea.

It’s not every day a politician comes up with a Miracle on the Second Narrows Bridge.

Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Vancouver resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. p.sullivan@breakthroughpr.com

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