SkyTrain-objectors should lobby council
Richmond residents have reason to be concerned about last month's good-news announcement on SkyTrain extensions for Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Coquitlam.
Because, like it or not, locals will have to pay for a chunk of it.
Under the rules governing the soon-to-be-set-up Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, local municipalities - including Richmond - must pay 40 per cent of capital costs while the province picks up the remaining 60 per cent.
As well, the municipalities must pay for all operating costs. How much isn't known yet; the provincial government has yet to release that information.
There's also a real concern that so much money will be dumped into SkyTrain that it will come at the expense of the region's bus fleet - the backbone of the public transit system that carries the majority of all Lower Mainland passengers.
All this leads to further speculation over whether SkyTrain is the better service. More and more it's becoming clear that the provincial government should have stuck with the option it had already been studying all along: the cheaper slick street car version known as light-rail.
And since cities like Richmond are saddled with the costs, local residents have the responsibility to make city council know how they feel about the grand scheme.
