September 28, 2007
VANCOUVER - B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell has an excellent opportunity to steer the province to a transportation system that reduces both greenhouse-gas emissions and traffic congestion, says the David Suzuki Foundation. A plan to address the challenges of global warming and to improve the quality of life, however, requires a shift from highway expansion to improved public transit.
Premier Campbell is expected to release a major part of his plan to reduce B.C.'s greenhouse-gas emissions at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention today.
"Premier Campbell has shown some leadership and vision in the fight against global warming, but with a quarter of our emissions coming from road transportation, we need a realistic transportation plan to make that vision a reality," says Ian Bruce, climate change specialist for the David Suzuki Foundation. "We can only achieve our climate-change targets by improving our transit system and providing reliable alternatives to the car."
To achieve the premier's goal of eliminating one-third of B.C.'s greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020, TransLink estimates the percentage of trips now made on public transit in the Lower Mainland would have to double. But major freeway proposals developed under Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon before the premier announced his landmark climate-change goals, including expansion of the Port Mann, present major obstacles to achieving those goals.
These freeway investments will actually discourage people from using transit. A recent TransLink report concluded that the Highway1/Port Mann project would lead to ridership declines on the Expo SkyTrain line of up to 500 trips during the morning rush hour, and as much as five per cent in total on the Evergreen Line, as commuters abandon transit and take cars.
"Spending billions on highway expansion will only intensify congestion and make the B.C. government's emission goal harder, if not impossible, to achieve," says Mr. Bruce. "For the benefit of all British Columbians we need to see the premier's goal achieved."
Speaking at the UBCM yesterday, NDP Leader Carole James said that the B.C. government should make transit a priority and forego freeway expansion throughout Greater Vancouver. "The approach identified by Carole James is sound and in line with the premier's climate-change goals," says Mr. Bruce.
For more information contact:
Ian Bruce, Climate Change Specialist, 604-306-5095 cell
Ian Hanington, Communications Specialist, 604-732-4228, ext. 238
