The need for more public transit was the number one issue Port Coquitlam candidates heard on the doorstep in the last municipal election.
Yet two thirds of residents who cast ballots in the Metro Vancouver transit plebiscite voted against a 0.5% sales tax to get better services.
It's a result that has PoCo Mayor Greg Moore, the lead campaigner for the Yes side, wondering what went wrong.
"I'm a little surprised, chatting with people on Shaughnessy Street and other places," said Moore, who is also the Metro Vancouver board chair. "I got a sense there was more support for the [mayors'] plan to address the growth in the region. And I think, at the end of the day, there was support for the plan."
Still, he believes the majority had concerns about TransLink's accountability and used the ballot as a tool to demonstrate their frustrations. The public also didn't want to pay more sales tax, he said, adding, "This is the second time a sales tax has been rejected by the voters."
Moore also responded to comments made by PoCo Coun. Brad West, who chairs the city's transportation solutions and public works committee, immediately after the numbers were revealed. West noted in a Twitter message that PoCo residents didn't feel they had much to gain by voting Yes.
But the mayor said extra funding would have paid for a rapid-bus service to the Evergreen Line in Coquitlam (due to open in the fall of 2016) as well as increased bus routes to neighbourhoods. In addition, there would have been additional cash in TransLink's Major Road Network to help build the Fremont connector, a multi-million dollar link from Burke Mountain in Coquitlam to Lougheed Highway in PoCo, that was approved by PoCo council this spring.
Moore said public transit improvements for Langley were especially vital for Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge commuters "because we can't forget a lot of those residents drive through Port Coquitlam. Unless they had increased access to transit, it's an accumulative effect as you move from outside of the Metro region and inside the employment corridors."
Moore said the mayors' council will now look for governance changes from the provincial government to get the regional mayors' plan moving forward.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
@jwarrenTC
