I guess there are tons of projects and little money, but we need this transit. It’s the only way we’ll really be able to densify the city without introducing more and more cars. As I was looking at the map of the medievally– laid out Bruges, where the streetcar was built, I wondered how much of that town was traversable by these same vehicles. Europe is so much farther along. Some of these medieval villages will be so much more sustainable when the oil begins to run out.

In the US, I remember their deep-seated hatred of mass transit (at least everyone except some of the left). It really does fall right down party lines. The Center (what little there is of it) and Right think it’s a symptom of the dreaded ‘Socialism’. For many, they believe that having an affordable car is a more basic right than affordable healthcare. I’m not kidding. It’s the base assumption for nearly all urban (and suburban) planning in the US, to this day.

Then when I moved here, I felt as if I’d moved a little farther along the continuum. In Vancouver, we say we want mass transit, but we keep coming up with excuses why we don’t put it in here or there. For example, when we were first looking for a place to live here, the realtor we were working with actually advised us against being near a Skytrain stop because they were seen as magnets for crime, because someone from outside the area could break-in, take something, run to the Skytrain, and be away before they could be caught. I don’t know how widespread that belief is, but it’s a slightly less negative objection than the ‘You’re turning us all into commies if you ride one of those things’ argument from the States.

Past Cambie, the tracks run just north of 1st — presumably this would be require it to pass through/around a security zone … would be a challenge being so close to the athlete’s residences. You could fence both sides but that would be costly and not exactly aesthetically pleasing.
Possible that there’s other contributing logistic issues and associated costs that made the extension a no go.

Notwithstanding, I wonder how much effort was put to the question. Would City Hall have debated this with VANOC? Would be interesting to ask the question.

It would also have required Bombardier supply at least another streetcar trainset and–I’m guessing–some right-of-way work. The current modernized line required a junction track be installed to allow the operation of more than one car at a time as it is.

I think the Downtown Streetcar project would be nice to have, but it’s not that useful to me personally. Certainly, the Broadway skytrain extension and the Evergreen Line should remain a priority. That said, I’d be far more likely to support the thing if it went from Gastown or Yaletown to Granville Island and then down the existing Arbutus right-of-way to Marine Drive. And hey, they’d have to knock down the Starbucks in front of Granville Island to boot!

Thanks for the info and pic, David .…