Skytrain Mk2 - Sept 4, 2002

The Story

The provincial NDP government in one of several last ditch efforts decided to plant a Skytrain line that not surprisingly ran along several of their ridings. The effort failed as the NDP are essentially wiped out in BC although the ruling Liberals are making every effort to make a NDP revival possible in the next few years. In any case the new Skytrain line which runs from East Vancouver into the edges of Coquitlam is up and running. It cost somewhere between $1.5 billion and $4 billion depending on which politician is spinning it.

I'm all for more infrastructure in the Lower Mainland but just not where the NDP put this line. I figured it wasn't a good place to put a line in the first place but a ride on the new line was rapid confirmation of what a horrendous mistake this has been. Many stations are bordered by industrial warehouses with zero opportunity for high density residential growth, in some cases there's nothing near the stations that's worth walking to. Taxpayers should be horrified.

At least it's well made and it now places a Wal-Mart within half an hour of me via transit.