The Written Word
for October 18, 2000

I know I’ve said it before but it perhaps bears repeating – Mair’s Axiom I … "You make a serious mistake assuming that people in charge know what the hell they’re doing". So be it with Translink, the authority with the responsibility of not only settling transport priorities but raising the money to fulfill their plans. To be fair, Translink is reaping the whirlwind of the 1968 Vancouver City Council that decided that freeways were not the way to handle the traffic problems of Vancouver. Right they no doubt were – the trouble was, they rubbed their hands, smug in the assurance that they’d done the right thing then did nothing else. It was as if by deciding not to build freeways the traffic problems would go away. They didn’t. And they won’t.

But Translink has the problem inherent in all those who would ride a tiger – riding it is one thing – dismounting is quite another. They now have the traffic problem, the solution requires money yet the public is quite unwilling to pay.

There are some basic flaws with Translink. For one thing, nobody is elected to the body. It is a creature of the Greater Vancouver Regional District which, unlike other regional districts is not elected but appointed by councils of the various components. The head honcho of Translink is appointed by Vancouver City Council to the GVRD who appointed him to Translink. George Puil reports to himself who then reports to the Vancouver City Council of which he is senior councilor and great pal of the Mayor.

Translink has another problem. It has no plan for overall GVRD transit. Oh, it’s got lots of plans and models but it has no plan that is etched in stone that everyone can see and rely upon. A citizen of Richmond, or North Vancouver, say, has no firm commitment from anyone as to when the benefits of Translink will come to him. There’s a plan for the east side of the district – Skytrain. That’s a given. So citizens of other areas of the GVRD see that the transit of some parts of the district are financed and either done or about to be done, Yet they are asked to pay for this and future plans without knowing what those plans have in store for them.

But it gets worse. Not only is the financial plan proposed by Translink goofy – for example a hockey mom with a van will pay four times what the stockbroker driving a brand new Porsche will pay – there is no way to collect the levy. There is no authority for ICBC to collect it and no power in Aircare to collect it either. It would seem that any power to collect will take either legislation or at least an order-in-council from the provincial government.

Now, honestly, do you see the government of Ujjal Dosanjh passing legislation to enable Translink to impose another tax on voting motorists? And you just know that Gordon Campbell isn’t about to pull Translink’s chestnuts out of the fire.

Lest there have been any doubt – Mair’s Axiom I is very much alive and well.