Vancouver Transit Tax - yes or no? A Podcast discussion, December 27 2014 - geoffmobile

Discussion about the benefits and issues with a proposed Greater Vancouver Transit tax and the upcoming tax yes/no referendum.

Geoffmobile Vancouver Podcast – December 27 2014

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Cheers,
Geoff

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Photo credit: “Commute Home #1” by Geoff Peters, Photo taken September 23rd 2014 at 5:31PM, on Nelson Street and Hamilton Street in downtown Vancouver.
Photo is available for free use as Creative Commons Attribution.
Photo source: www.flickr.com/photos/gpeters/15336232861/in/photolist-pnddQB-pndcHX-9gQxDP-6MZGGz

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Transcript:
Just wondering what people’s opinions on the proposed Vancouver Transit Tax are. If Translink can’t manage a $170 million Compass program, can we trust them to manage a $7.5 billion transit plan?

AC says I don’t mind temporary fare or tax hikes for funding where needed. The only problem is that tax or fare hikes don’t go back down.
December 13 at 12:40pm 3 Likes.

Jason says Must remember the then Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon forced the Compass system against the wishes on the then locally elected and governed Translink Board. As a such I’d argue the compass failure is not a true measuring stick of Translink rather the BC Liberals.
December 13 at 12:53pm 3 Likes

George says Perhaps the newly sworn in Vancouver city council would forego their proposed raise and put that towards transit!!!
December 14 at 12:49am 2 likes

Stephen says We need more transit.
December 14 at 6:53am 1 like

Brendan says It’s not about a judgement of Translink as the manager of these funds, but the need of our region to have any ability to grow with necessary mobility into the future.
Also, as a sales tax goes, it will have more direct positive impact, even to drivers who don’t take transit (every person on transit is one less car in front of you), with less felt cost than even general inflation has.
December 14 at 8:24am 2 likes

Martin says The Compass card notwithstanding, most of the issues over the past year on Skytrain have been due to underfunding maintenance. For most of us, the cost of this will come to less than about $25/mo, so…better mobility for the cost of one Modo trip, or a dinner out. Not a bad deal all told.
December 14 at 10:15am 1 like

Martin continues, Now, I’d really prefer this be done by road pricing (e.g. a downtown congestion tax or a per-km tax on insurance renewals) as it’s more progressive, but that’s an implementation challenge. Tweaking the PST is far easier to do in the short term.
December 14 at 10:17am 1 like

Joshua says, Right..so we really want to send more Canadians down to the U.S. to shop? We’re already going to save our $3 for a gallon of milk..now we’ll just go to Abbotsford or Squamish to make our big ticket purchases like cars/TVs etc. Tax hike, especially this regionally structured one is terrible for any business in the Metro Van area..how can we forget about the small business owner?? C’mon folks, once a tax goes up it never (rarely) comes down and doesn’t often go towards the stated project either…..Translink has no funding issues (they are perfectly capable of continuing enormous pay packages for their executives), Translink has a financial management issue. And tolling every road/bridge across the Metro area isn’t the answer either.
December 14 at 10:57pm 1 like

Geoffrey Peters thank you guys. I appreciate all your input and good points by all.

Vancouver Transit Tax – yes or no? A Podcast discussion, December 27 2014 – geoffmobile

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