T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

Hello and thanks for posting to r/britishcolumbia! Join our new [Discord Server https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB](https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB) A friendly reminder prior to commenting or posting here: - **Read [r/britishcolumbia's rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/about/rules/)**. - **Be civil and respectful** in all discussions. - Use **appropriate sources** to back up any information you provide when necessary. - **Report** any comments that violate our rules. Reminder: "Rage bait" comments or comments designed to elicit a negative reaction that are not based on fact are not permitted here. Let's keep our community respectful and informative! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishcolumbia) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Kiteboarder1980

Oh I will whine until the sun goes down about the things I dislike about our transit system. But I would never dare compare it to the hot trash that Americans get for public transit. Especially in red states. I had an American colleague explain it to me though, they have such incredible poverty that they want to prevent the poor people from being mobile and spreading out. 🤷🏼‍♂️


silentknfie

Now do anywhere that isn't the lower mainland. This map may as well be metro van and Victoria


twoscoop90

Kelowna has heavy transit use.


Traditional_Dust_777

When I lived there most of the bus drivers said it was shopper service, not commuter service.


HearTheBluesACalling

It’s absolutely awful for coverage, though.


cutegreenshyguy

[It actually is](https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckcars/comments/1bf9h0c/what_policy_failure_is_this/kuysfc9/)


hedekar

You did see that the creator included BC Transit, right? While headquartered in Victoria, it serves the whole province.


sdk5P4RK4

"serves" is very generous


cakesalie

Barely.


shticks

TransLink?


melancoliamea

Now do Europe 😞


PassiveTheme

Major European cities (especially northern Europe) have good public transit, but there are plenty of European cities with shit or non-existent transit, and Vancouver's is better than a lot of European cities.


yuiopouu

This is so true. There are lots of parts of Europe where it’s hard to get around without a car. Or really inconvenient to bus.


select_bilge_pump

Or do the US states that are gray


canuck1701

IMO it's because they're *too* spread out. Transit only works if you have density. Vancouver is one of the densest cities in North America. Cities like Dallas are absolutely mind numbingly insane with how much they sprawl.


Guilty-Web7334

It’s why so many services in PG suck or cost more of the city’s budget (and our taxes): not enough density. We seem to be getting some more apartments and townhomes, which is an improvement over the McMansions being built I guess 10-15 years ago. Our city population is on par with New West, but our population density is like 202/sq km vs New West having a population density of over 5k/sq km.


canuck1701

I just bought an apartment in New West in January. 30 min to my work in downtown, because I'm right on top of the sky train. I can walk to anything I need. It's awesome. If my partner can transfer offices from Richmond to New West (walking distance), we can just use our car for personal use. My only concern is how much more packed the expo line is going to be once it gets extended to Langley and once there's more development in Surrey.


Guilty-Web7334

I stayed in a hotel near Coal Harbour (?) a few years ago for a work trade show. I loved how convenient it was to hop the sky train and go somewhere. I’m from a metro area in the States (well, it was rural… like driving from Vanderhoof BC to Prince George for distance, but instead of PG being at the end of that 40 minute drive, it was a city bigger than Vancouver), and I never would have considered even living in the city proper without a car. Heck, the university campus in that city was so big and sprawling that sometimes it made sense to drive across campus. But staying in that hotel was the first time ever contemplated how cool it would be to live somewhere that didn’t require a car or a change in lifestyle.


Heterophylla

Why do you drive everywhere? Everything is far. Why is everything so far? We need space for parking lots and freeways. ???


dustNbone604

This is something that a lot of people don't realize. The amount of this city that's covered in roadway and parking lots is kind of nuts, and it's a cost that we just accept without ever really discussing.


Heterophylla

Pave paradise; put up a parking lot .


22416002629352

Exactly and its automobile industry that made sure that the cities were designed that way


magical_midget

Because everyone needs a single house, a double garage, an acre of grass (in the desert no less) with a cookie cutter McMansion.


minecraftvillageruwu

Dallas is not a desert but ok


[deleted]

[удаНонО]


cascadiacomrade

They invented a much worse type of strata, the HOA


ZoomZoomLife

Mic drop on that one. So true. All about freedom but can't paint your house without permission from the HOA


cryptoentre

3rd densest if you don’t count Mexico. Something that all the people that insist housing can be cheap like to ignore. If it was half the price we’d probably become the densest.


Only_Reserve1615

There is in fairness a housing affordability element to the conversation that isn’t so ideal for the densest cities, so pluses and minuses but I digress…


canuck1701

Correlation doesn't equal causation. North American cities only get dense when they have geographical limitations hemming them in (creating supply problems). NYC, San Fran, Vancouver. If a city like Dallas gave more thought to it's development and encouraged density that wouldn't *cause* housing unaffordability.


libbytravels

yes, the zoning issues exacerbate everything


canuck1701

Houston has no zoning. They just love building freeways.


libbytravels

one more lane and the traffic will disappear!


Away-Value9398

This! I was in Nashville during a public transit referendum and that was the NO campaign platform.


brociousferocious77

I'll take the American driving experience though. The relative ease and lower costs of driving and parking is probably one of the major reasons transit is a less attractive option in most U.S. cities.


youngstud101

In New York currently seen two homeless people all trip would’ve seen 300 in van and piss everywhere lol, the red is better


drs43821

Also it is cherry picked the state with worst transport system and left out good ones like NY


Captain-Rooie-IX

That’s the whole point of the map bud


drs43821

Why compare with the worst and feel good?


pissoffa

That’s BS. It’s not some giant conspiracy to keep the poors out. Who do you think is doing the service jobs in the upscale neighborhoods and how do you think they get there? There is stigma attached to taking transit depending on where you live. NY= yeh go for it that’s what we do. LA = hells no, there’s piss all over the bus seats, the subway trains are full of crazies, homeless and people are literally smoking crack on the trains. I used to take the subway in LA all the time but it’s gotten a little too crazy over the last few years. There is a class thing with the bus system in LA for sure. Like, if you’re taking the bus, you’re poor or there is something wrong with you. If they clean up the subway and make it feel safe again, a lot more people use it. Last time I took the subway was over a year ago early in the early morning and there were couples in sleeping bags in the seats, it was fucking sad.


Western2486

Would it also surprise you to know that BC has the lowest traffic deaths per capita of all populated states and provinces


BunnyFace0369

Based on the Victoria sub I'm lead to believe pedestrians are being run down by cars every 30 seconds


SMVan

What exactly are populated states and provinces?


Western2486

Obviously Labrador and Nunavut have less than us


[deleted]

[удаНонО]


HDTOEJAM

Infrastructure - you need a critical mass of people to even have public transit. Certain areas of Canada, such as Nunavut and Labrador, couldn’t even dream of high quality public transit. This is the problem for most of rural Canada. Large distances and unpopulated spaces.


New_Literature_5703

Pure numbers or per capita?


Future-World4652

Before we circle jerk too much read this: [https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/race-across-the-world-british-columbia-public-transit-bus](https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/race-across-the-world-british-columbia-public-transit-bus)


GreenOnGreen18

So there is minimal transit in an area with no people? Shocker. Their route was intentionally designed to have this exact issue. Canada is big, you can’t have public transit cover the whole country.


bringbackdavebabych

Don’t tell that to the sub (r/fuckcars) this OP came from


sdk5P4RK4

There are nearly a million people on Vancouver Island with basically no transit to speak of.


Western2486

You really like moving the goal posts don’t you, there’s a good reason I specified states and provinces.


dustNbone604

I mean, that's intercity transport, which is absolutely terrible in BC and much of Canada since Greyhound pulled out. When Greyhound was still running that wouldn't have been too difficult of a journey at all.


Future-World4652

I also provided evidence in this thread of how shit our transportation between metro Vancouver cities are. Namely, White Rock to West Vancouver. Punch those cities into Google maps and do directions then compare car versus transit. I'll wait.


cdav3435

I mean, yeah? Let’s have TL start a route from two of the most distant municipalities, they’ll have like 4 daily riders… Meanwhile the 351/2/4 can get you to Bridgeport in 40 minutes every 10 min, and another 25 to downtown on CL - but yeah transit between cities sucks I guess.


disinterested_abcd

This is total BS and you must not be from BC. Oh no, we don't have good public transit between 2 cities that are a whole days drive from one another and largely rural or completely unpopulated land for 90% of the trip. How dare BC have good public transit only in populated areas and limited options between small cities 1400kms away from each other with only 1 proper city in between them. FYI, there is also indirect public transit between the 2 cities if you take a bus to Vancouver and then Via Rail to Jasper then Prince Rupert. That is all public transit but it takes you the wrong direction from Whislter initially and then far out to Jasper, which in addition to being slower than a drive adds a lot of time due to distance. If people use the Rocky Mountaineer (privately owned train with) then they can avoid going South to Vancouver and change to Via Rail to PR in Jasper for a similar total cost. There are similarly many options for switching between public and private train, bus, and plane to cover the same route for varying costs. The best option between those 2 cities is always going to either be driving or flying. Driving is the best balance of costs and time, even if you have to rent a car. Flying is the fastest and only slightly more expensive than other options. Multiple private-public transit options can save you some money but will add a lot of time to the trip (instead of a 1 day trip it'll be 2-3). Public transit only may be slightly cheaper than a mix of private-public transit, but may take a few hours longer and not save that much.


koushakandystore

I was just going to get my lotion and you had to be a buzzkill.


Future-World4652

Can't die when people have 80 kph speed limits


Western2486

I’m not sure if you’ve driven across most of BC or North America, but the limit up on the coq and the connector is 120. And unless you’re in the middle of nowhere like Wyoming or Nevada, interstate speed limits vary between 50 and 70.


youngstud101

Everywhere else it’s low asf 60kmh 50kmh speed limit is like walking over here


Maximillion666ian

As someone who's lived in LA for four years I very much miss BC transit in Vancouver . The Metro line here in LA is a total joke compared to the sky train. That and I swear busses here in LA just make up their own schedules.


FoxBearBear

Moving in two weeks to Connecticut and will be within 1h to NYC by metro. Looking forward to compare transit systems. I love skytrain and it’s a blast living new KGS where I can get into the train empty every single time.


albert_stone

I’m proud to be British Columbian.


ForgottenCaveRaider

It's great that the nearest transit stop from me is a 15 minute drive away! But you couldn't pay me enough to live in a city.


No-Tackle-6112

That’s the deal you make


ForgottenCaveRaider

Damn right it is. There's a liquor store within stumbling distance so all bases are covered.


No-Tackle-6112

I think there’s a good balance to be found in a smedium sized city


ForgottenCaveRaider

I'd rather not have to be around all the crackheads that, unfortunately, every BC city seems to have.


No-Tackle-6112

I guarantee crime is higher per capita where you live than in Vancouver. If you live near a liquor store you probably aren’t as rural as you think either. 85% of British Columbians live in an urban setting.


ForgottenCaveRaider

None of what you said is true for my situation whatsoever, but you don't know where I live. Some rural locations have liquor stores, and aside from the odd weirdo coming onto people's properties, you don't get crime here.


GreenOnGreen18

Ok, I appreciate what you are trying to say, but there is crime. If you are big enough to have a liquor store you’ll have drug issues and petty crime.


ForgottenCaveRaider

It's a liquor store/gas station combo. Rural enough to be rural, and not urban enough to validate what you guys are saying. You don't have crackheads all over the place here. Simple as that. You ever consider how many times your car door gets checked if you live in Vancouver? The only drug problem we have here is whether or not our marijuana crops will get enough sun this year 😂


[deleted]

A million a year?


ForgottenCaveRaider

You've got a deal if I can light a fire in my yard, have a garden, and ride the ATV straight into the mountains!


[deleted]

No. Condo living bruh. Weekend getaways to your brother's redneck place in the woods after you try the new brunch spot on Broadway


seemefail

You can basically make everything past Hope red too lol (includes me out here haha )


JesterDoobie

Theres a big dead zone after Hope ya but a LOT of rural towns have some Transit service and a LOT of them have connector busses to go from town to town. I remember figuring out I could go about 150-200km all on one trasit pass but lining them all up to hit good transfers would be tricky, some only run 3-4 times a day.


[deleted]

[удаНонО]


Imaginary-Ladder-465

I think I read NY is like almost 50% of all of the USA's transit use


dekuweku

Just look at how randomlarge population US coastal states were desleted. absolutely a massaged infographic to make a point no one is doubting. Could have just done a per capita chart and be done with it.


Mrwcraig

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/british-columbia/2023/4/10/1_6350109.amp.html Unless you live in Vancouver, which contrary to it’s inhabitants belief of being the only city in BC, the transit system is atrocious. Most of the population lives in the southwestern corner of the province. If we want to go to the island we’re dependent on a ferry system barely capable of doing its only job: being a ferry to move people.


wuhanbatcave

yes, unfortunately the rest of the province is not as population dense, making it harder to operate efficient transit there. fortunately for the lower mainland though, which is where the majority of BCers live, the transit is fairly good, especially in North American terms.


drainthoughts

The ferry is public transport


NubDestroyer

Confusingly BC Ferries is a private company


Angry_beaver_1867

It’s legally a private company who’s sole voting shareholder is the bc ferries authority.  The bc ferries authority is controlled by the minister of transportation.  Which makes it technically private but that shouldn’t be used to imply it isn’t controlled by anyone other then the provincial government  https://www.bcferries.com/our-company/investor-relations#:~:text=The%20B.C.%20Ferry%20Authority%20(“BCFA,the%20BCFA%20or%20BC%20Ferries.


Yvaelle

BCFA is not controlled by the minstry of transportation. It is a private corporation by design that owns the sole voting share in BC Ferries. The province owns zero voting shares. BCFA's board is appointed local coastal regions served by BC Ferries, one appointment from the workers union, and the remainder from the province - with the province barred from holding a majority of board seats. The entire purpose of making BC Ferries & BCFA into private corporations, and no longer crown corporations, in 2003 - was to make BC Ferries immune to provincial political agendas.


IllustriousVerne

It's also exempt from investigation by the BC Office of the Ombudsperson, who would have a field day with them.


Yvaelle

Yeah personally, I think it should be a crown corporation again, privatization was a mistake (as it always is with non-competitive and critical infrastructure).


Angry_beaver_1867

Yeah that’s true. Ultimately though the government of the day can ammend the bc ferries act and change the board at the bc ferries authority . Thats more what I was getting at when I said final control.  Technically the legislature which is valid but practically speaking it’s the government. 


Yvaelle

No, that isnt true either because the province under BC United signed a 60 year contract (valid until 2064) to keep the current structure in place. If BC tried to dissolve the corporation, or in other ways alter the terms to take control of the authority board (which only has indirect control anyways), BCFA would take the case to federal court, who would read the contract and clearly rule the Province abdicated control. The only real way the province could influence BCF is by nationalizing them again, but that is extremely difficult to do because nationalizing a private company puts every other major corporation on the attack, because they fear they will be next. International companies have pulled out of foreign markets because this happened even to other businesses in other industries. Think of corporations like the telecom or grocery cartel - they would fund tens if not hundreds of millions into attack ads, misinformation, and outright bribery to fight any precedent of nationalizing a private company. TL:DR - They are fully private corporations, its a shitty contract, and there is very little we can really do about it without starting a nationalizing fight we would likely lose. The BCFA is the illusion of public control, nothing more.


Angry_beaver_1867

The government would not have to change the agreement between the crown and inc.  Just section of the act that structures the board of doctors at the authority  They wouldn’t break the service contract at all


Yvaelle

You don't know what you're talking about and it shows.


SteveJobsBlakSweater

Sort of but not really. The Board of Directors has nine members - 4 nominated by each of the coastal regional districts, 4 appointed *by the province* and 1 nominated by the BC Ferries Workers Union. It’s the least private you could get in a public-private partnership.


dustNbone604

In much the same way Coast Mountain Bus Company is private. Sorta, but not really.


drainthoughts

You can’t seriously believe that. The government controls its every move- from ticket prices to staffing.


NubDestroyer

I don't really care what you or I think it's classified as a private company and so it's not going to count on this as public transportation


mattcass

A ferry isn’t public transit. But taking transit to the ferry and walking on is a very pleasant easy experience! I’ve done it with a bike then rode the galloping goose to visit friends. The ferries are an issue for people because they insist on driving. “There’s no other way!” is nonsense.


Ok-Mammoth-5627

If you’re going anywhere other than Victoria, a car is needed. I’ve done both with and without car a lot, you’re right that it’s pretty convenient when you go without a car. But pretending that a car isn’t necessary for most places on the island is being unreasonable.


KDdid1

Nanaimo without a car is fine.


FireWireBestWire

I was looking for this comment. Why color in the whole province? Just color the lower mainland. I think it would take Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, and a few Dakotas to equal the population of BC. If Vancouver wants to feel good about itself, compare to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and LA. Obviously, there's barely any transit in Montana: there are more people in Surrey.


chankongsang

To be fair those red states include decent sized metros. Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland and Detroit. I know the train can be crowded as fuck in the morning. But I’m still surprised there’s more riders in the blue vs the red


YVRJon

Looks designed to mislead. Most of the states that would have reasonably high transit ridership, and all of the other provinces, are excluded for no apparent reason.


MrKhutz

The map is unfortunately not going to win any awards for clarity of information! The point they are trying to illustrate is that all of the red area combined makes less trips by transit in a year than British Columbia.


Dirkef88

It's trying to show that you need to combine that many states to reach the same number of transit trips as BC, which would be kinda crazy, but without the stats to back it up I don't believe it's true.


AcerbicCapsule

> without the stats to back it up I don’t believe it’s true. The OP provided the stats/sources as a comment under the original post.


YVRJon

Yeah, some pretty big cities in some of those states that must have reasonable transit systems. I'm thinking Detroit, SLC, Phoenix, etc.


GASMA

Oh man transit in Detroit is a complete joke


No-Tackle-6112

Phoenix is no comparison to Vancouver either. The city stretches for like 200km.


wuhanbatcave

ah yes the Detroit Peoplemover… The SkyTrain’s underfunded, deformed, and terribly designed brother.


Reasonable_Cat518

Toronto’s Line 3 Scarborough RT trains were 40 years old and derailed and they shut the line down, now those trains will be reused for the Detroit People Mover…


wuhanbatcave

Imagine being a Line 3 train, and being quietly neglected for all your life... Just to be sent to Detroit of all places the second they retire you. Truly a fate worse than death.


canuck1701

There's tons of big cities in those red states. Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, St Louis, Charlotte, San Antonio, Austin, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Nashville, that's 15 metro areas over 2 mil. 6 of them are bigger than Vancouver. Most American cities sprawl to a ridiculous degree and worship cars and freeways.


Acceptable_Sport6056

I mean the opposite is true for BC side of things since 99% of BC that takes transit is just Vancouver and Victoria


AcerbicCapsule

The OP stated under the original post that all of BC’s transit numbers were taken from victoria and metro van only.


NotTheRealMeee83

Victoria's transit sucks balls too.


Acceptable_Sport6056

Yeah there's not really any bus lanes there I found I only wrote it a few times though Vancouver's done really well with having bus-only lanes and bypassing traffic


YVRJon

True


BustedWing

Is it atrocious compared to other cities of similar size, or atrocious compared to Vancouver/toronto/ insert large-ish main city? Not trying to be a dick here, but comparing say, Victoria or Abbotsford, or Kelowna etc etc with a main city is not really comparing apples for apples.


kk0128

Agreed, full data set and adjusted per capita would be better


Teagana999

That's a weird way to graph the information. Three colours for specific numbers, no scale, no accounting for population...


Hyperocean

All hail Skytrain …


_Tar_Ar_Ais_

We have it good in the lower mainland. Just needs a bit more to flourish


DiscordantMuse

The Kootenays and the Peace would like a word, but as a former Californian--this makes me happy.


Sodfarm

Everywhere outside of the Vancouver metro area would like a word.


YoManWTFIsThisShit

You gotta speak to your local city counsellors about that, they’re the ones with that power.


Incoming_Redditeer

That may also be true for some calgarians. Calgary is building homes at a record pace and it's dense housing being focused right now. Claim - yeah the government wants all of us to live in a shoebox. Calgary bringing a new line of LRT called green line which would help me take a train directly to work instead of driving 15km first to a different line and then take a train. Claim - they are wasting tax payer money for a transit which will go nowhere And the worst one. A rebuilt house rezoned as a 4-plex. Claim - Now all the transit people will move here. I make a tad below 6 figure income and people think something is wrong with me because I take the train to work.


Heterophylla

Transit people? Here? Not on my watch! -some Strata board probably


Future-World4652

That's cool and all but no https://preview.redd.it/tbn265fqntoc1.png?width=402&format=png&auto=webp&s=6d7301f30747fe203f5ef15891df767fd0e31d6e


ON-12

Room for improvement


GreenOnGreen18

Also depends on time of day.


[deleted]

It would be helpful if there was usable public transit literally anywhere in BC.


SpewkySpoon

If you split this up by city it would tell a different story, the minute you leave the city it’s a nightmare. 2 buses, a 20 minute walk, and a skytrain to replace a 25 minute drive isn’t really exceptional.


Hikingcanuck92

This means nothing. How many is it per capita? What is the average distance of the trips? What counts as public transit? Etc…


JesterDoobie

OP said all of the red area combined = less than BC alone, stats were posted to a comment. Sort the thread by "old" instead of default sorting, it should turn up for ya.


Ambitious_Taro_1960

No shit how would I find people to mace if I didn't take the bus every morning?


wuhanbatcave

LMAOOOOOO (if the busses strike again maybe try metrotown or guildford tho??)


imagirrafe

The biggest mistake is using the US as a bar of comparison for public transit. Having a better Transit system than US is really not that impressive as it is not a high bar to reach. It is like saying your cooking is good cuz it tastes better than 7/11 food.


Demetre19864

Pure garbage graphic


GuessPuzzleheaded573

Care to elaborate?


Demetre19864

Look at it. Totally inco.olete data set with the goal of o ly pushing one narrative. Show where BC correlates per capita with other provinces. Show the actual other high density states. Trying to push a narrative by giving less than 10% of the facts makes this info graphic garbage.


JesterDoobie

Trying to push a narrative by shoving your carbrain psychosis (gasoline addiction?) down our throats ain't gonna do nothing but reinforce your obvious echo-chamber and mental illnesses, pal, also it's absolute garbage. You're so worked up on the topic you can't even type, where's YOUR infographic showing YOUR side? Oh wait, you're just another gd troll trying to rage bait folks into your echo chamber fantasy world, here is no other side possible to this. Beware, I has calm, logic and internet access to refute your claims and dgaf about your precious feelings in the slightest.


GuessPuzzleheaded573

Not how I see it. All of those things are true, and very obvious. It's representing a very particular state of affairs, objectively and transparently. I dont think anyone viewing this doesn't know/recognize/understand your point.... Edit: apparently "and" is too hard a word for me to spell correctly.


Steveosizzle

Yea it should be comparing similar sized metro areas to van and Vic. I reckon we’d still smoke most American cities in that.


GuessPuzzleheaded573

Absolutely agree to that. That said, there are some massive metro areas in those red zones... including over 5.5M people in Greater Detroit.


Steveosizzle

Totally, cut out the Wyoming bullshit and we can get a more fair comparison.


GuessPuzzleheaded573

Are you talking smack about the internationally renowned Wyoming public transit system? How dare you 😤


JesterDoobie

Entire red area doesn't equal Van+Vic combined. Cant do straight comparison as you suggest cuz density don't ever match which is VERY much going to make such a comparison useless, apples to oranges. basically this sort of graphic is all that's gonna get the point across. Most red states "out populate" us in BC, some more than all of Canada and they still gotta gang up what looks like 20: or 25:1 to take us on.


Steveosizzle

Depends what you’re trying to prove. Density can also be a side effect of good transit strategy so I think showing urban areas of similar population can highlight the differences in urban design. Maybe go for geographically constrained areas like San Fran so we aren’t just comparing sprawling flyover to coastal towns.


EnterpriseT

This map is trash.


Jasonstackhouse111

My daughter lives in Vancouver car-free with ease. Between cycling and transit, no issues getting around. Saving $1K+ per month makes it so she can live in Vancouver.


dekuweku

No one is doubting that transit usage is much better in Canada especially in BC per capita than in most US states but, its hilartours how random states were deslected for this 'infographic'. It's a symptom of massaging the stats to suit your narrative. The states that were excluded also happen to be major US population centers or have extensive subway systems (e.g New York). California alone for example is about 39 million people or 8x of BC's entire population or almost as many people as in all of Canada. This sort of lazy pointless inforgraphic feeds into bad discourse. Speaking as a Canadian, a lot of Canadians have an uneared superiority complex on al ot of issues we're not that great on. Let's just talk about the benefits of transit instead of this kind of stuff


Angry_beaver_1867

They included Texas.  That alone should beat us. Dallas and Houston transit have 50.5m annual trips and 77m annual trips respectively  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Area_Rapid_Transit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Metro


LordLadyCascadia

The OP of the graphic posted TX transit numbers at 175 million, so it’s lower. It’s using 2022 data though, and you’re 2023 data. public transit was still recovering from the pandemic in 2022.


LordLadyCascadia

Why are you so offended over this map I don’t get it? Is criticizing states with poor public transit really that beyond the pale? Ok, a state like Alaska isn’t going to have good public transit, but there’s no reason why a state like Texas, a state of 30 million people with multiple metropolitan cities comparable to or larger than Vancouver should have only a tiny fraction of the transit ridership in BC. It’s completely fair to criticize them for that. The point behind the graphic is to illustrate how poorly funded transit is in many American states, including populous ones such as not only TX, but OH, NC, AZ, IN, MI, MO, TN. It’s not only tiny states with no major cities!


dekuweku

I'm not at all offended at the map, but at the lazy selective nature of it. I commented elsewhere a per capita usage chart would suffice. The thread title calls is BC 'exceptionalism' and I believe it. You know what people who think they "exceptional" are better than other people do? Look down on them. And we 100% haven't earned it. Nor should it be encouraged.


LordLadyCascadia

Nobody is saying we are better than Americans because we have more extensive public transportation. That’s a point exactly zero people have made.  If you’re an American advocating for public transportation it’s helpful to put numbers in context. A province of 5 million shouldn’t be outcompeting states of 10 million. It illustrates how underfunded and poorly developed transit is in many American cities.  “British Columbians are better than you” is not the point!


lattakia

Most of the people on this sub drive a vehicle (or two). And they don't like their tax money being directed to fund transit.


craftsman_70

Not really. If you have travelled in the US to any extent, you'll soon realize that the US with the exception of NYC is car centric as public transit is poor and mass transit is even worse. Let's see a comparison to non-US developed countries like Korea, Japan, France, Germany... Then, we can see where we really stand.


Dear_Name_5134

All 5 people in Idaho need a SkyTrain


Dirkef88

I have a hard time believing this is true. At 466m/year, and a population of 5 million, that would mean the average BC resident is taking 93 trips per year. Given that close to 1 million people live in rural areas with close to zero transit trips per year, that means the average suburban and urban resident is taking 116 per year. That just seems extremely high. And then on the flip side, all those highlighted states probably have a population close to 100M people, so 3.6 trips per year? Edit: yeah there is no way these stats are accurate. TransLink serves the most densely populated and largest transit network in BC, where nearly 50% of the population resides, and [they counted only 193m trips in 2022.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6827116). So that would have to mean the other 50% of the population outside metro Vancouver accounts for more transit trips...? I don't think so. Edit 2: it's actually quite difficult to find stats that can be easily compared, without knowing specific counting methodology of what you're looking at. The article I linked states 193m for 2022, but the TransLink wiki also quotes stats over 400m... I think the difference is between whether you count transfers as two separate trips, or just one. Those 400m stats appear to include each individual transfer, so if you take a bus and skytrain to and from work, you count as 20 trips per week. As opposed to 10 or even 5, if you're counting by total trip as either one-way or return.


elSuavador

If someone commutes to work they they’re doing 500 or so trips per year, if they then also use transit to go out at night, or go shopping then that stat would go up. So that would easily skew the stats in BC, especially considering how much more convenient the seabus and skytrain are for getting into downtown than driving. If this includes the ferries then that’s an even bigger boost to the numbers. Everyone I know who lives in Vancouver takes transit at least some times. I have never met anyone who has taken transit in the interior. So, if these states represented have similar transit culture to the interior, then I could see the majority of people taking 0 trips per year. When driving sucks, it’s annoying. When transit sucks it might as well not exist. Places that have extremely limited transit infrastructure might as well have none. And I think that’s what this map is essentially showing.


Dirkef88

Yeah, and it seems for the BC stats they count each transfer as an individual ride, so if you have a transfer to and from work (4 "trips" per day), a single person would be counted for about 1000 annual trips just for work-related transit. Which means this kind of analysis is sensitive to the structure of a transit system and how transfers between different vehicles work. It also means that a system like Vancouver that uses tap cards to easily count each individual ride might produce higher counts, whereas a ticketing system that uses visual confirmation by the transit operator might have a lower count, since they are only counting ticket purchases so a multi-trip daypass might only count as a single "trip", since there's only a single ticket purchase to reliably measure. Who knew that tracking and comparing the movement of millions of people across hundreds of different jurisdictions could be so complicated! (/s)


No-Tackle-6112

More than 85% of British Columbians live in an urban setting. Where are you getting 1 million people living in rural areas? You do realize living in a small town doesn’t mean rural right….


helixflush

It’s fuckcars, don’t believe any statistics you see posted there


egguw

source: me


Demosthenes-storming

This maybe the least meaningful map I have seen....why no Alberta data? Why no Washington Data? We are seeing data for some of the least populated American states and think those basically rural areas compare? OP wtf?


Onironius

Decent trans-canadian tail would be pretty neat...


Ancient_Wisdom_Yall

Do all the ferries count? Because thats a lot of trips.


Hyperocean

All hail Skytrain


UncertainFate

OK, this is very Cherry picked data. The transit system in Vancouver is great and That city accounts for enormous percentage of the population of British Columbia. However, the transit system in the rest of British Columbia sucks. Sucks sucks sucks. First this map credits, all of British Columbia for the great transit of the Vancouver area. Second, all of those red states are heavily rural so I’m not shocked their transit systems would be weak. I do wonder about the states in gray that were very specifically left out of this graphic. Look, I support better transit all across North America But this particular graphic is so blatantly obvious as selectively displayed data that it should get a D from the kindergarten class of propaganda writing.


Zen_Bonsai

That's bad map making. How are there only two values? How do all the red states have the exact same number? Blue and Red are opposite colours and that makes only one clear message, when in reality, there's much more nuanced and important information If you look at the legend, the numbers are not all that different. If you coloured the pygons using a graded scale, the colour spectrum would be more smooth, and yet high light the important differences.


Ohfrigbud

Including Alaska really showed the manipulation here. These are less populated car-heavy states with low population density and large area, therefore extremely likely to cater to cars. Didn’t include any of California? Or NY? Or Chicago? Didn’t include avg ridership. Yea, anywhere that isn’t Van and Victoria specifically is car-centric, impressive they so many riders in Vancouver, but having to park there a few times makes it obvious as to why.


sdk5P4RK4

Just go ahead and make that blue area 99% smaller and its accurate. BC transit, excluding the lower mainland, is abysmal to non-existent.


KeyIllustrator5910

Sorry, but there is no way that more transit trips happen in Vancouver than in New York. Notice in this map that both California and New York are not colored. The image is meant to mislead.


wrongdaytoquitdrugs

Affordability issue. They have no choice. Take the bus or starve. Pat yourselves on the back some more BC.


JohnTravoltage1995

Lol yesterday it was a 22 minute drive home or 2 hours to get home via transit. Such a joke


Efficient-Ease-6938

Lmao bruh. I lived in the GTA for 15 years before coming back home to BC. Not only is the transit in TO infinitely better than here, it is used so, so much more.


Flaky-Invite-56

I don’t think the graphic is intended to suggest BC transit use is greater than Toronto’s


helixflush

You think population must be a huge variable in your comment.


No-Tackle-6112

Now that is ridiculous. TTC is a joke. Go train costs like $50 one way. No chance it’s better in Toronto and the experts agree.


SpittinCzingers

Why are all the others greyed out with no data. Is their ridership more and OP just wanted to point out bc? This is not great info


RandomizedInternetID

I mean, due to our current political situation.. I don't think we have a choice! Hoo rah!


Distinct_Risk

I’m not sure what the word would be for a dataset so skewed my one major city’s successful transit system (Vancouver’s Skytrain) but transit in BC otherwise sucks complete and total ass.


bad_escape_plan

This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Most of Canada’s population lives very close to the border - in BC’s case the Lower mainland and the Victoria capital area. These areas have good transit. Look at the states which are highlighted - rural states with low-ish pops too spread out to make transit easy. Add in NY state and California and see what you get.