Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon have unveiled a $14-billion public transit plan to be completed by 2020.
It is a key measure in the Province’s greenhouse gas reduction plan, touching every region of the province.
Highlights of the plan include:
- $10.3-billion investment in four new rapid transit lines in Metro Vancouver – the Evergreen Line, the UBC Line, the upgraded Expo Line and the Canada Line (for which $2 billion was previously committed);
- $1.2 billion for a new, cutting-edge energy efficient, high capacity RapidBus BC service along nine major routes in the high-growth urban centres of Kelowna, Victoria and Metro Vancouver; and
- $1.6-billion investment in 1,500 new, clean energy buses and related maintenance infrastructure to provide communities around the province with improved bus service.
The plan calls for $14 billion in investments, including $11.1 billion in new funding, with the Province committing $4.75 billion, and the remainder from partners, including the federal government, TransLink and local governments.
Increased security measures will enhance transit safety. Electronic gates and closed-circuit cameras will be installed at rapid transit and new RapidBus stations. A smart-card system for rapid transit and buses, which users can reload at vending machines or on the Internet, will be implemented.
A cumulative total of 4.7 million tonnes in transportation greenhouse gases (GHG) will be reduced by 2020. The GHG savings will be about the equivalent of parking all the cars and light trucks in Metro Vancouver for a full year by getting British Columbians out of their cars and onto transit.
More information on the Transit Plan can be found online at http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/Transit_Plan.
Did you know?
The Transit Plan complements other key provincial transportation initiatives such as the Cariboo Connector,
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