Cars will disappear, so get on with it
Re: “Pushback may prompt rethink of plan to reduce McKenzie motor-vehicle lanes, mayor says,” Nov. 9.
One well-designed bus lane can easily move as many people as five lanes of cars. So one bus lane in each direction has the capacity of a massive 10-lane arterial road. Bike and roll lanes are almost as space efficient as bus lanes.
Reallocating road space to bus lanes results in what is called “traffic evaporation” — cars disappear as people choose to ride public transit instead.
Cities that prioritize the movement of people on transit buses and bicycles over cars are better for everyone, including people who keep driving cars.
Reallocating space to bus lanes is also essential for meeting our climate targets, including the provincial target of reducing traffic (vehicle kilometres travelled) 25% by 2030.
If Saanich council cares about meeting their climate targets, and good governance, they should paint in bus lanes on McKenzie now and push hard for more and bigger buses on McKenzie to the University of Victoria.
Eric Doherty
Victoria
Traffic evaporation and science fiction
First, I read that Saanich believes reducing both McKenzie and Quadra to one vehicle lane is a good idea. Then I read that the theory is that traffic “evaporates” if there is a dedicated bus lane and a dedicated bicycle lane.
If I may quote Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, “Did IQs just suddenly drop sharply?”
Thomas Maxwell
Victoria
Temporary change would allow a test
Some crazy comments and guesses of consequences about the plans for Quadra and McKenzie. I would suggest breaking the question down and addressing small parts.
Try a temporary change. Take enough of the millions of traffic cones in Victoria and duplicate the plan. Does the traffic just disappear, as some suggest, does a flock of cyclists swarm down the bike lanes, are multiple buses full. Are people happier or more frustrated?
Do a trial before you make expensive errors based on more of the expert modelling that always seems to have multiple big oops in it.
Gordon Olafsen
Victoria
Few alternatives found on McKenzie
To get people out of their cars, we have to provide alternatives.
Buses on McKenzie Avenue:
There is only one bus, No. 51, that transverses the whole of McKenzie. That’s only for the start/end of the university day.
There are buses each way per weekday. Nothing on the weekends.
We are still waiting for No. 40, Admirals. How many years has that been?
There are no buses using Highway 17 to reach McKenzie (i.e. Downtown, Uptown, Highway 17, McKenzie, UVic).
Cycling/walking on McKenzie Avenue:
There is nothing organized until Borden Street.
Ray Powell
Victoria
Light rail system is the solution
Unless Greater Victoria moves ahead with a light rail or tram system, it is destined to be gridlocked in a few years time.
Los Angeles and many other cities, learned that you have to build light rail. As long as you keep tweaking the road system in favour of private vehicles the relief is only temporary.
The Colwood crawl is a good example. Drivers will never be tempted out of their cars by offering buses. Give them rail and they will use it. Vancouver’s Skytrain is a perfect example.
We have travelled in Europe and experienced their tram systems, some very old, some very new. They are easy to use with a frequent service.
The driver sits in the cab isolated from the passengers, the ride is smooth and only goes where the tracks lead it, no worrying about where to get off.
If Saanich, Victoria and other municipalities bend to the wishes of drivers, you will never improve the transportation system.
Richard Parsley
Nanaimo
Saanich can do better than Victoria has
My wife and I use McKenzie frequently during the week as one of our primary crosstown corridors. As seniors with significant health issues, we use McKenzie to travel to Victoria General Hospital on a regular basis by car.
Traffic along McKenzie has worsened with the changes between Shelbourne and Cadboro Bay Road, particularly when university staff and students depart at the end of their day. The traffic along McKenzie to Quadra and beyond is busy generally, but with planning, is manageable.
The draft plan to reduce the vehicle traffic lanes from two to one makes no sense. I appreciate there may be a desire to provide transportation alternatives for buses and bicycles, but the plan ignores that the primary mode of transportation along McKenzie is vehicle traffic because it is a major crosstown arterial.
McKenzie is not a neighbourhood road.
Rather than constricting one of the only functioning crosstown arterials, I would like to see Saanich look to an alternative of meeting the needs for bicycles and buses.
If a bus-only lane is required, reduce the lane widths, redesign the sidewalks to one side only, create a single bicycle lane and widen the roadway to accommodate the multiple uses.
More expensive, perhaps, but a better overall solution.
We don’t bike, because we don’t have the balance. We have an electric vehicle that we use for transportation.
While I appreciate that other Saanich taxpayers use other means of transportation, while encouraging alternative modes of transportation, handicapping those of us who require transportation by private vehicle makes no sense.
Based on my observations of travelling along McKenzie, it is clear to me that the predominant use of McKenzie is motor vehicles.
Rather than recognizing that and meeting the needs of those users, the draft plan proposes to inconvenience the majority of users, to the detriment of most Saanich taxpayers and to the benefit of the fewer in number that use other forms of transportation.
That is unfair and as I said, makes no sense.
The City of Victoria has already created such a mess of its roadways that we and many other residents in Saanich avoid the downtown core unless we have no option. Surely Saanich can do better.
Carey Johannesson
Victoria
Realistic plan needed in Saanich
The justifiable furor over the idea of reorganizing McKenzie has unfortunately diverted attention from the proposed Saanich Official Community Plan itself.
The plan proposes an incredible level of densification.
The area to be redeveloped is mostly good quality family housing, which the plan would replace with a dense array of concrete Lego blocks entirely unsuitable for families.
If construction were carried out to the limits permitted in the plan, with tens of thousands of new residents, the McKenzie Quadra area would have a population density greater than that in, for example, Mumbai or Hong Kong, with no provision for new open recreational space or facilities.
The plan also makes no mention of the infrastructure costs.
Based on the cost estimates of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities, the infrastructure cost associated with the plan would be at least $1.2 billion, almost all of which would have to be found from local taxation, since development charges cover less than 5% of the true cost.
Saanich is not some 19th century derelict area desperately wanting redevelopment. It is a stable family-oriented community in no need of being socially engineered into an unworkable village concept.
We don’t require more small apartments than are already in the construction or development phase. A rational Official Community Plan should concentrate on how to use and organise municipally owned land to provide acceptable, affordable family housing instead of over-planning some massive apartment-focused development.
Grade this proposed Official Community Plan as an interesting theoretical exercise and develop a realistic new one for action.
Alec Mitchell
Victoria
Greens need Furstenau as their leader
Re: “Tough choices are facing ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Greens and leader Furstenau,” editorial, Nov. 8.
As a long-time Green Party member I can assure the editorial writers that there is no appetite within the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Greens for a change of leadership. As with any other political party, it’s up to the members to decide the fate of their leader, not the media.
The NDP government could fall at any time, or call an early election, as it did in 2020, if polls look favourable. Greens need an experienced and respected leader, and with a possible election sooner than 2028, an opportunity to run and win in Victoria-Beacon Hill or another area riding may come up for Sonia Furstenau.
I knocked on hundreds of doors for the election and there was strong support and admiration for Furstenau. Our antiquated electoral system, and the fact that for much of the campaign the Conservatives were leading in the polls led, once again, to strategic voting.
“I want to vote for Sonia, but I am afraid Rustad could win so I have to vote NDP” was a common conversation.
We have 91 of 93 MLAs keen to expand fracking and LNG. We have 91 MLAs prepared to “axe the Carbon Tax,” retreating on climate action, while continuing to provide massive taxpayer subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
We have 91 MLAs willing to clearcut the last of our old growth forests, and unwilling to move mental health services under the medical services plan so people get the help they need before becoming addicts.
While the Greens received only eight per cent of the vote in this election, there are far more people who support the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Greens on these and other policies.
It’s no wonder the big parties are dead-set against adopting a proportional voting system.
More than ever, people across ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ who want climate action, protection of old growth forests and a comprehensive plan for publicly funded mental health care need a principled, strong, experienced leader like Furstenau leading the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Greens, even if it’s from outside the legislature for now.
Murray Gudmundson
Victoria
STV is proportional, but AV is not
Re: “Choose a voting system that we can understand,” commentary, Nov. 8.
I read this commentary with interest, expecting it to recommend the status quo First Past The Post system.
I was relieved to see the author making many good points about the better outcomes we can expect when we hopefully move to a form of proportional representation.
I was however confused by the conclusion that the system needed is ranked ballot, mainly because there are two distinct versions, one is proportional (Single Transferable Vote) and the other is not (Alternate Vote).
Both ask the voter to select one or more candidates using a ranked ballot but STV elects more than one candidate per (bigger) riding versus just one for AV. How votes are counted/apportioned is somewhat different because of this, but the outcome is that STV yields proportional results and AV doesn’t.
Check out Fair Vote ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’s excellent website for a detailed comparison of the two systems.
So, to achieve the benefits listed in the article the ranked ballot system used must be STV, not AV. The “price” is a slightly more complicated system due to tabulation, but the fairer outcome and the benefits delivered are more than worth it.
Graham Tarling
Esquimalt
Always lots of room in city’s parkades
Re: “Yes, Virginia, there is parking in downtown Victoria,” commentary, Nov. 9.
I have often been mystified by the complaints about downtown parking.
I have my favourite city parkade, where for many years I have always been able to find a space. I have a city parking card, which enables me to pay only for the minutes I use, and not have to guess how long I am going to be.
As an active 80-plus-year-old, I can walk from there to wherever I need to be in downtown, including all my concert venues.
On rare occasions when I might need a heavy item, I have always been able to find a closer space especially if I go at a less busy time.
However, I understand that people less mobile than I am do have difficulty, and I sympathize with them.
Andrea Ashton
Victoria
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