Was the plebiscite the best route to help improve transit?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – We now know it was a resounding ‘No’ in the transportation plebiscite, so let the second-guessing begin. Was the idea a good one or simply a waste of time and money?

One urban policy expert thinks it’s a little bit of both. The vote was bad for transit but good for democracy, according to Brian Kelcey who runs the State of the City blog.

“If you look at the alternatives which would have meant endless negotiating and bickering, which means different municipalities to try and come up with a regional plan, the best case scenario under the circumstances.”

He adds people who voted ‘Yes’ may not be happy but there’s a silver lining. “I wish urbanists, I wish transit riders would be more positive about the process even if they’re understandably sad about the results.”

Kelcey adds a future public engagement process for transportation expansion is still better than politicians making a decision without your say.

“I don’t think this is a rejection of referendum process or an idea of a dedicated tax for transit — you have an imperfect field and a promise to dedicate revenue to an agency that was a lot more unpopular than urbanists and transit advocates were really willing to acknowledge.”

A new poll by Angus Reid finds most people don’t think the plebiscite was a good idea. It found more than half of the people who voted think the whole thing was a waste of time, almost twice the number of people who liked it.

Pollster Shachi Kurl explains that most voters ask themselves the question ‘What’s in it for me?’ “In this case, the prospect of paying more sales tax among voters who were older, not commuting as much — perhaps living it the same communities where they worked — was not particularly appealing.”

She adds the results show there wasn’t much ‘swaying’ of votes over the course of the campaign by either side with 61 per cent of people way back at the beginning saying they’d be voting ‘No’ and they did.

The ‘No’ side took the vote with 62 per cent, while the ‘Yes’ side is left trying to figure out what to do now.

The provincial government suggests mayors increase property taxes to help cover the portion of required costs for transit and road upgrades. However, Transportation Minister Todd Stone does not want to reallocate the carbon tax and suggests a vehicle levy would be too costly for families.

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