A proposed bus rapid transit system in Vancouver remains in the queue for a possible federal grant next year, after the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council turned back an effort to put the project on hold Tuesday.
Clark County Commissioner David Madore had expressed his desire to “pause” the project until at least November, when bus rapid transit is among several nonbinding advisories that will appear on the ballot. The measure, if approved, would direct Clark County commissioners to oppose any such system unless it’s first supported by a majority of voters.
Madore has said acting now to keep the project on track would step in front of voters. Local leaders should welcome the chance for people to weigh in directly, he said. County Commissioner Tom Mielke agreed, making a motion to remove bus rapid transit from a project ranking list previously prepared by RTC staff and others. The rankings are used to help determine which projects receive grant money awarded through RTC.
“To set aside dollars for it without approval in November would be the wrong thing to do,” Mielke said of bus rapid transit, which would reshape C-Tran’s transit service along Vancouver’s Fourth Plain corridor.
Other RTC board members noted the rankings aren’t meant to be final project lists, and other decision points on bus rapid transit and other projects will come — including a more direct vote on actually awarding grant money to projects next month.
Vancouver City Councilor Jack Burkman called the push to remove bus rapid transit from consid
eration now “arbitrary and capricious.” Doing so would only undermine established procedures and criteria that the RTC has long followed, he said.
The only votes in favor of removing bus rapid transit from the list came from Madore and Mielke. The rest of the RTC board approved the entire set of rankings soon after.
Bus rapid transit ranked first among three projects submitted to RTC for a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant. The project has requested $2 million for design work. Most of its $50 million price tag would be covered by a separate federal Small Starts grant, which C-Tran also plans to apply for.
Tuesday wasn’t the first time Madore and Mielke have tried to put bus rapid transit on hold. At last month’s C-Tran board meeting, the two were on the losing end of a 6-3 vote that essentially kept the project on track. C-Tran Executive Director Jeff Hamm reiterated that Tuesday.
“This is an active project,” Hamm said, based on the direction given by the majority of C-Tran board members.
Planned efficiency
Bus rapid transit works by using larger vehicles, raised boarding platforms, specialized traffic signals and other features to try to move passengers more efficiently and reliably. The system being pursued by C-Tran would run from downtown Vancouver to the Westfield Vancouver mall, primarily along Fourth Plain.
If built, the proposed system would replace part of the existing No. 4 route at lower operating cost — saving C-Tran an estimated $900,000 per year, according to the agency. C-Tran has said it must come up with about $6 million out of its own pocket to build the system, but hasn’t identified exactly where that would come from.
Madore has floated a separate resolution that would encourage C-Tran to consider the outcome of this fall’s vote before committing to bus rapid transit. That proposal could be heard by the agency’s board during its regular meeting next week.
Eric Florip: 360-735-4541; http://twitter.com/col_enviro; eric.florip@columbian.com.
