Transit promises to improve, at a price > TransLink introduces phase one of 10-year vision Aaron Guillen Staff Reporter fter more than half a decade without any significant investments in Metro Vancouver’s transit and roads, TransLink is taking a bold step with its new Phase One Plan. As the first of three phases, Phase One promises to “get the region moving again.” Among the list of to-dos, there will be a 10 per cent increase in bus service, with proposed B-Lines for Fraser Highway, Lougheed Highway, Marine Drive, 41 Avenue, and Hastings Street. In addition, there will be new or expanded services for neighbourhoods with few or no transit options, such as Silver Valley in Maple Ridge, Morgan Creek and Clayton in Surrey, Willoughby in Langley, and Burke Mountain in Coquitlam. Small improvements include a 15 per cent hike in Access Transit service, five new cars on the West Coast Express, and one new SeaBus. Finally, 50 new SkyTrain cars will be added throughout all lines to get riders where they need to be faster than ever before. If approved by the TransLink Board of Directors and Mayors’ Council, the transit system will apply their 10-Year Vision to dramatically improve walkways, bike lanes, and bottlenecked roads. With a much more transparent and concrete blueprint for the future, TransLink hopes customers will understand that fare hikes will become essential. Even though TransLink has $616 million in capital funding, increases to transit fares will be introduced in order to meet their goals. Annual increments of 5-10 cents will be added onto single fares and $1-3 on monthly passes. Also, a minimal hike will be seen in property tax bills, with an estimated 0.01 per cent increase for the average homeowner ($3 annually). As Phase One hopes to be set into motion, future improvements in Metro Vancouver are headed down the pipeline in the following phases (two and three)—some of which includes: Broadway Subway, Surrey Light Rail, and the Patullo Bridge Replacement. TransLink hopes to hear the opinions of residents across the region; their online questionnaire can be found at tenyearvision.translink.ca and they are offering open houses before the end of October. “We're looking forward Image via Wikimedia to public feedback on this in October,’ Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said to the Province. “For most of us mayors, we want to see this investment move forward and get the new transit services as urgently as possible.” Public Open Houses are taking place in Vancouver at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (Wednesday, October 19, 4-8 p.m.), Surrey at Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre (Thursday, October 20, 4-8 p.m.), and Richmond at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Monday, October 24, 4-8 p.m.). Alliance of BC Students fights for more student housing > Additional student housing could ease rental crisis Mercedes Deutscher News Editor he Alliance of BC Students (ABCS) is looking to the provincial government to provide more funding for student housing. With the exception of UBC, there have been no new student residences built since 2006. Other post-secondary institutions with housing, such as SFU and BCIT, cannot afford to build enough student housing to meet the demand. As a result, students often need to stay at home for longer, pay rents they can barely afford, live in overcrowded residences with a large number of roommates, or—in some cases—end up homeless. The ABCS has created a document called the White Paper on Student Housing, which outlines the current problems and gives some potential solutions to the student housing crisis. According to the document, if the provincial government were to put $18 million annually towards student housing for the next 10 years, it could open up 21,300 residences for the general public that are currently occupied by students. Of those residences, 13,500 are in the Lower Mainland, 4,200 are in the Victoria/Saanich area, 2,500 are in Kelowna, and 450 are in the Fraser Valley. There is an untapped potential to house students closer to their campuses, according to the document. UBC currently can house 28 per cent of its full time students, but Simon Fraser can only support eight per cent, while BCIT can only support two per cent. Any other Metro Vancouver institution cannot host full-time students, but Image via Thinkstock could have the potential to. For example, if student housing was built near Douglas College, there is potential to house at least 909 full-time students. The White Paper also lists other benefits to additional student housing, including public transportation. As it stands, 8 out of 10 of the most overcrowded bus routes in metro Vancouver are those that service a post-secondary institution. However, post-secondary institutions are not allowed to take on debt. Since building student housing would involve taking on an initial debt, it is impossible for any institution besides UBC to progress with their student housing. The White Paper suggests that the restriction be removed, and that the provincial government should be responsible for 10 per cent of student housing costs until then. “We know they’ve got plenty of money for housing and they need to do something about this,” says ABCS Chair, Alex McGowan, to 24 Hours. The BC NDP and BC Green Party are supporting the efforts of the ABCS. Municipal politicians, such as Saanich councillor Fred Haynes, are also in support. Haynes is continuing the student housing discussion, mentioning the students concerns at a recent Union of BC Municipalities meeting. There has been no response from the BC Liberals.