T2000BC: Transport 2021 Long Range Transportation Plan

A Long-Range Transportation Plan for Greater Vancouver

The following very condensed summary is composed of extracts from "A Long-Range Transportation Plan for Greater Vancouver - Transport 2021 Report, September 1993". Transport 2021 was a joint project of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Province of British Columbia.

Current trend is towards more car dependency; it should be less

In common with many other urban regions ... Greater Vancouver has concluded that heavy reliance on the private automobile is unhealthy. The desire for greater choice in mode of transport - meaning strategic expansion of public transit, and creating walking- and bicycling-oriented communities - is a recurring theme in public meetings and opinion polls.

A policy of reversing the past practice of favouring the automobile has been adopted under the GVRD's "Creating Our Future" program and therefore forms part of TRANSPORT 2021's terms of reference.

However, the region is becoming more, not less, dependent on cars ... the speed of travel is dropping ... the total amount of time spent travelling has increased substantially.

Four major levers to steer the transport system

Government policy makers [can]

1. control land use (e.g. by zoning regulations)
2. apply transport demand management (to change travellers' behaviour)
3. adjust transport service levels (e.g. by letting congestion worsen)
4. supply transport capacity (e.g. by building more roads and transit)

Control of land use

... the GVRD's proposed Livable Region Strategy ... would have local governments control land use to:

• re-allocate the region's growth (i.e. an extra 1.2 million people and 0.6 million jobs over 30 years) among the municipalities to form a more compact, less sprawling region ...
• cluster population and jobs near regional activity centres ...
• create a better balance between work force and jobs in each area ...

The Livable Region Strategy and the TRANSPORT 2021 project both view land use and transport planning as interactive and interdependent.

Changing the look and feel of neighbourhoods and "streetscapes" is key to giving walking and bicycling an opportunity to take hold. Governments can create neighbourhoods where non-drivers are less disadvantaged or where a car (especially a second car) is actually not required by:

• creating small-town or village street patterns in suburban areas - where homes surround stores and services. Commercial buildings are closely spaced and front directly onto streets and sidewalks, not set back for parking. Routine neighbourhood trips are by foot. Priority for vehicles is downgraded.
• intensifying residential areas by lowering minimum lot sizes for detached housing, allowing building right up to lot line and relaxing single-purpose zoning.
• calming traffic by modifying the street and its regulations to slow down traffic and create better pedestrian environments and more livable neighbourhoods.

A major obstacle to cycling is that existing roads and bridges do not accommodate cyclists very well. Also, many destinations have no secure bicycle storage, with no change rooms, showers or lockers. ...

Those modern western cities which have successfully adapted their road systems to accommodate cycling have shown that bicycle travel can become an important component of the transportation system ...

Source: Lowe, M. The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet (1989)

Transportation demand management

... comprises a variety of techniques to change the behaviour of travellers in order to make better use of the existing transport system. It encourages off-peak travel and discourages single-occupant vehicles, incorporating measures such as tolls, gas taxes and parking management.

Incentives:

• promote telecommuting
• encourage medium-sized and large employers to help cut vehicle trips to their work sites
• install high-occupancy vehicle lanes
• give buses traffic priority on the street

Disincentives:

• increase and broaden parking charges ...
• raise fuel prices, through higher fuel taxes ...
• introduce bridge tolls ...

Such a package could decrease rush hour vehicle trips by 10% and increase transit ridership some 25% ... A more aggressive package (e.g. higher tolls) might achieve an even greater impact. ...

... An essential element of transportation demand management is to get travellers to pay their way and in particular to inform them ... of the true cost of that trip.

Adjust Transport Service Level

... Congestion is usually considered an evil; however, allowing congestion to deteriorate for the single-occupant vehicles is a practical method of promoting transit and carpools. ... [However], since urban goods transport has no practical alternative to trucks, a policy of selectively increasing congestion should also protect trucks from being caught in queues, e.g. by separating truck flows from mixed traffic ...

Supply Transport Capacity

... Clearly, availability of funds is a key constraint. ...

The relatively high target population densities within the Burrard Peninsula, the North East Sector (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody) and North Surrey create an opportunity for transit. ...

[We suggest constructing] a network of High-occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes ... together with queue-jumping facilities to give priority at bridge heads. ... The choke points of the bridges and tunnels across the Fraser River and across Burrard Inlet would be used to "draw the line" and limit access by the single-occupant vehicle.

Within areas of rapid population growth, considerable new local road construction will be necessary to accommodate mixed traffic.

Certain roads intended as long-haul links with other parts of the Province - such as the Trans Canada Highway between the Port Mann Bridge and Chilliwack - are encouraging urban sprawl and are losing their function for long-haul traffic.

The solution to this problem is to reverse past practice and limit all single-occupant long-haul commuting from the valley towns ...

Capital cost and affordability

Preparing a financial plan goes beyond the terms of reference for TRANSPORT 2021; but ... the estimated capital cost of this plan through to the year 2021 is $10 billion in 1992 dollars:

To pay for the total $10 billion ... the plan would require about two thirds of the historical amount - $149 per capita per year compared with $231 over the past decade - to be sustained through the period 1993-2021.

Using traffic volumes projected in the year 2021, but at current dollar prices, one estimate of the cash revenue flowing to government is as follows:

...all of the capital cost of the proposed transportation system could indeed be financed by the revenue from demand management.

Keeping options open

Unexpected and unforeseeable developments over the next 30 years could mean that some of the underlying assumptions will not hold true. Accordingly, the project has also considered how best to make the plan robust and flexible.

... First, options to use transport corridors not in the long-range plan must be kept open. While this Report does not recommend that facilities be built in such corridors, they may be needed in light of the above uncertainties, either within the 30-year horizon or beyond it.

... Second, the plan must be a "living document", regularly updated.

A steady, consistent focus, and co-ordinated implementation of the policies, which are the responsibility of many groups, will be vital if the Province and local governments are to achieve the goals and objectives they have set out for Greater Vancouver's transportation system.