Jan 23 2009
Cyclists banned from Skytrain because of burnt bridge.
On Sunday, January 18th, someone burned down part of the Pattullo Bridge over the Fraser River in New Westminster, British Columbia. No-one has been arrested in connection with the arson. There are no cameras on the bridge because it’s an infringement of people’s civil liberties.
Predictably, the two other road bridges over the river became a lot busier during the daily commute, as did The Skytrain, Vancouver’s rapid transit train. What was less predictable was the decision of the transportation authority, Translink, to ban bikes from The Skytrain at all times while the Pattullo Bridge is closed. It seems rather strange that the people who do the least to harm the environment, the humble cyclists, are being punished the most because of the bridge closure.
In a city that’s supposed to be ‘The Best Place on Earth’ this seems the wrong way around. Translink should be doing more to encourage cyclists rather than punishing them at the first available opportunity. If there was ever a doubt that the car is king in ‘Lotusland’ (another modest nickname Vancouver has for itself) this decision surely dispels that notion. On the one hand, the ruling Liberal Democrat elite say that they are a green government, but on the other hand they are not only twinning another bridge, The Port Mann, so that it can carry even more traffic, but are also building a brand new bridge, The Golden Ears Bridge.
The Liberal Government doesn’t seem to have learned a lesson that has been taught to many other cities in the world. More roads equals more trucks, more cars, more pollution, and more low air quality.
Banning cyclists from transit at the first available opportunity and building more roads in the belief that it will reduce traffic congestion are two further examples of how cut off Vancouver and its provincial government are from the realities that the rest of the world knows about.
