Look at the vote breakdown. People who voted against the plan are overwhelmingly from the outer suburbs and not well-served served by transit and/or do not live, or work or go downtown very much. They see transit improvements as something that benefits people who already can already afford to live near downtown the most vis-a-vis the Broadway SkyTrain extension.
Exactly, the highways are getting busier because people can no longer afford to live in the metro Vancouver area and are being forced out to Surrey, Langley and further east. It's no coincidence that Surrey is the most rapidly growing community in Canada. It's comparatively cheap to live in a practical home to raise kids, it's still within driving distance (or transit distance) to your previous job somewhere in Vancouver and the developers and politicians are more than happy to increase density to accommodate all the people having to leave Vancouver.
The problem now is that there are only 4 Skytrain stations serving Surrey and all along the King George and Pattullo corridor. And Surrey is the BEST served outlying community as far as Metro Vancouver is concerned. People are pushing further out into the valley to Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack where townhouse development boomed over the past 10 years and you can feel good about raising your kids in a home instead of a condo.
The fact that people have had to leave Vancouver to maintain any form of acceptable lifestyle has been completely missed by the people calling the shots with transit improvements etc. If you want to come from Abbotsford into downtown Vancouver to work a 9-5 job you're looking at a 30 minute drive to Carvolth exchange, 20 minute bus to a Skytrain station in Coquitlam and then a 30 minute train ride into downtown Vancouver. You have to change modes of transportation twice each direction, pay $4 to park at the park and ride and then pay your way on transit.
Now you have people who are already upset about having to move further from 1/3 of their lives, their job, and have no accessible transit in these areas, then give them the opportunity to decide if more money needs to be given to the managing company who has been crucified by the media for the past year….. go figure the outlying areas voted no, they're pissed off and they haven't been presented with a plan that would benefit them for another 10 years or more.
I understand the argument that increasing transit service in the Metro Vancouver area will remove X number of cars from the road and reduce congestion for those people who still have to drive. However, with no scientific proof to back this statement, I'm convinced that at least 40% of the congestion in Vancouver is now people coming from Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and further. If you get on Highway 1, 17, 91 or 99 after 6am on a weekday or try to cross a bridge other than the 10 lane Port Mann just try to argue that.
Actually if anyone has access to the number of people commuting into Vancouver now I'd love to see it. I am one of them and have watched the traffic congestion specifically on Highway 1 seemingly double in the last 5-6 years.