Transportation

A brand new Patullo Bridge will be constructed within the next 5 to 10 years and it will most likely be tolled. Translink has started the preliminary public consultations and construction could start as early as 2015. The new bridge will be six lanes. Not all lanes will be for all vehicles, four lanes will be multi-purpose while the other two lanes will be dedicated to truck traffic only.

TransLink has presented a few options (see below) for replacement of the existing bridge. 

Simon Fraser University students, faculty and staff hoping for an easier way to get up the mountain (especially during snow days) are out of luck. Yesterday TransLink released their findings for the SFU gondola project and the business case concluded that it makes sense to build a gondola up Burnaby Mountain to SFU and eliminate existing bus service. However, due to costs, it doesn’t make financial sense to proceed. Considering that TransLink isn’t exactly making huge profits these days, the shelving of the project seems justified. That’s why rate hikes are likely this time next year.

This time next year, transit users may be paying more to get around the Lower Mainland. TransLink has applied to raise transit fares on January 1, 2013. Something they say is necessary to maintain and improve the existing system (for example see the addition of fare gates), which is true. If the proposed changes go through, the 2 and 3 zone fares will see an increase of 50 cents. 

A little while back, I was invited by the nice folks at Regency Nissan to take a test drive in the 2012 Nissan Leaf. Being an electric vehicle enthusiast and having a couple EV projects of my own under my belt I welcomed the opportunity to experience one of the first of a new wave of electric vehicles from a major automotive manufacturer.

Christmas is just around the corner and the streets of Vancouver are starting to look and feel more festive. One of festive visuals bestowed up on us Vancouverites is the annual Rudolph the Red Nosed Bus. It’s back once again this year and you can spot it on various bus routes throughout the remainder of November and December. 

The other day, my friends at Volkswagen Canada, let me know about a cool art project they’ve set up here in Vancity to celebrate the launch of their all new 2012 Jetta GLI. In a nutshell, VW Canada has hidden limited edition, framed, light paintings all over town and they want you, dear readers to steal them.