I’m writing because even though there is widespread public support for light rail in Victoria, B.C. Transit is following the same pattern it has for many years: pay lip service to the concept while commissioning study after study, pushing bus rapid transit and generally behaving as a petty, unresponsive bureaucratic fiefdom.
Light rail is enjoying a huge renaissance around the world in places as diverse as Edmonton and Calgary, Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Norfolk, Va. No country has demonstrated better that tramways can be routinely built in small cities for very reasonable cost than France.
Salt Lake City has an ambitious rail transit expansion program underway. Its goal is to build 112 km of commuter rail and LRT in seven years, with a completion date of 2015. Besides its scale and fast build time, what is remarkable is its reasonable cost: US$25.5/km.
Louis Guilbault
Victoria
