Wednesday July 29 2015
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▲ Making the cut at the Canadian Open 14
▼ CIRCLING THE SKIES Three members of the SkyHawks, the Canadian Armed Forces parachute team, lock legs in a demonstration at the Boundary Bay Air Show in Delta on July 25. The event brought thousands of visitors to see fly-bys of vintage airplanes and stunt pilots. See more photos on Page 7. BOAZ JOSEPH
CUTS TO TRANSIT POLICE EYED
▶ TRANSLINK MONEY CRUNCH HAS MAYORS MULLING REDUCING COP SERVICE TO HELP PAY FOR EXPANDED BUS SYSTEM JEFF NAGEL
Some Metro Vancouver mayors are willing to cut or eliminate the Transit Police service to redirect money to expand core bus service. But others say chopping cops is a bad strategy to deal with TransLink’s cash crunch after voters defeated a 0.5 per cent sales tax for
transit expansion. “It’s worth looking at,” White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin said. “It is expensive. And quite frankly, I haven’t seen much benefit from it.” Baldwin said what he has noticed is a precipitous drop in community shuttle service in White Rock, from 30-minute frequency to every hour. He suggested the system could get by with attendants to conduct fare checks and assist passengers rather than much more costly armed police officers. The Transit Police last year cost $34 million, $2.2 million higher than expected because a new collective agreement gave officers retroactive pay hikes to 2011.
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That amount of money could fund a significant jump in regular bus service. For comparison, it would have taken $59 million a year under the mayors’ plan to deliver the proposed 25 per cent lift in overall bus service, or $28 million per year to add the 11 new B-Line express bus routes that were proposed. But any cut to Transit Police would also mean fewer police boots on the ground and more pressure on local detachments at a time when Surrey, in particular, is desperate to add more officers. continued on page 3
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