[Busriders-van] David Maidman on RAV

[Bus Riders Union]

Here is a presentation to the Translink Board meeting on May 7, 2004 on the RAV Line, by Bus Riders Union member Dave Maidman.

Hi, my name is David Maidman. I am a steel fabricator by trade and a member of the Ironworker's Local 712. During the building of the Millennium Skytrain Line my company had the contract to build two stations and all the guard rail along the line so it is not unreasonable to expect that we would see some work coming our way from the construction of the RAV Line. Unless of course it is done by a nonunion firm. So I guess I should be getting down and kissing your feet or some other part of your anatomy at the prospect of a pay cheque for a period of time. But I can't.

I have to put aside my short term interests and look at the bigger picture. You see I also use public transit and I see the RAV Line as the end of the public transit system in this region. It is not hard to see that the decision to use a P3 model to build this project is a purely ideological one being being pushed by the provincial government of Gordon Campbell with the assistance of Ken Dobell. By insisting on a P3 model it becomes a method to transfer tax dollars to large corporations. >From the poor to the rich.

As the Vancouver Olympic Committee is finding out construction costs are spiralling out of control . You cite a figure of total cost of construction cost of $1.5- $1.7 billion dollars. Is this the guaranteed figure? I know about those figures from the time I spent working on the fast ferry project.

This figure was before the rise in steel, cement and labour costs? It is totally bogus. My company is having trouble bidding on jobs because they don't know the cost of the steel they will be using when they go to build the project. This price increase is being driven by a high demand for steel in China and a world wide shortage of iron ore and scrap steel used in the production of steel. The high prices look like they are here to stay. The only way you can even hope to get to those figures is by praying for a recession.

Ridership is projected to reach 100,000 on this line (I think someone was into BC's most famous export crop when this one was arrived at) . In a story published in the Vancouver Sun on Saturday, July 19, 2003 Peter O'Neil reports on a federal government report expressing doubts about the feasability of the RAV Line. They were concerned that ridership would have to increase from 40,000 to 100,000 . He went on and these passages are in quotation marks "However, all rapid transit and commuter rail projects constructed in the Vancouver region during the past 20 years over-estimated ridership projections," it states and "Based on previous experiences, the estimates of riders on RAVP could be over-optimistic, thereby impacting on the rationale for the project."

If this figure is not reached the tax payer will subsidize the P3 operator for lost revenue. You can not build the densities needed to reach this number on Lulu or Sea Islands. They are silt islands they barely existed when New Westminster was founded. 

Also people in Delta now have a downtown express bus service. I've ridden on it and can recommend it for comfort . Put a dedicated bus lane on Granville and the Oak St. Bridge and you can increase its speed. This would also work with the 98 B-Line which you put into Richmond at a cost of $88 miliion dollars just a few years ago.

I can not see air passengers struggling with their luggage onto the RAV Line. I believe they will continue to go downtown via limousine, air port express buses or taxis. After all it is not that expensive and I am sure you all do the same when you travel on civic business. So where does this 100,000 figure come from. 

I live in New Westminster which is served by two Skytrain Lines yet still the majority of travel I do on transit is still by bus. Buses are the back bone of the public transit system and they are inadequate to say the least. I imagine most of you and your staff have taxpayer supported car allowances and don't regularily ride the bus like I do. 


The RAV Line project was created in a back room far from the light of public scrutiny by using the smokescreen of P3. The last time I spoke to the Translink Board was the day before the bus strike began. Helen Sparkes was then Mayor of New Westminster and Translink Board member. During the strike every time I struggled up the hill from the Skytrain station passing poor seniors doing the same I cursed her. I vowed to see her defeated come next election. The fact that Mayor Wright is now in office shows I was not alone in that. Mr. Macallum should also remember the fate of his predecessor who failed to win even one of ten slots for City Council in Vancouver.

As I said before I am a construction worker and one thing I learned from working and living in the GVRD is that you have to put aside your short term interests aside for the benefit of the entire community. Did I mention I worked on the fast ferry project? The RAV Line is just an assault on the public treasury by the corporate elite. Do the right thing for the citizens of this region and defeat it.

-- Cheers

Dave Maidman
New Westminster, BC
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