Liberal leadership candidate Kevin Falcon is promising he would keep the SkyTrain running until at least 3 a.m. on weekends to give bar-goers in downtown Vancouver a way to get home to the suburbs.
The former transportation minister pledged Thursday that if he is named leader of the BC Liberals, the SkyTrain system would stay open past closing time for bars on Fridays and Saturdays.
"It's important that we provide an affordable option that's available, particularly for young people, particularly for young women, that are trying to do the responsible thing when they're out on the town enjoying themselves," Falcon told reporters.
He said that the current system -- with the last trains leaving downtown Vancouver around 1:30 a.m. -- leaves revellers with the unattractive choices of drinking and driving or ponying up for a cab.
"That creates a real problem -- they have to scramble to find alternate ways back. I can tell you that coming from Surrey, it is not inexpensive to take a cab ride back to Surrey. It can be easily $75," Falcon said.
TransLink declined to comment on the candidate's proposal, but has said in the past that it needs to close the system at night to do maintenance.
But Falcon insisted that opposition to longer running hours is more about money. "I think the resistance, understandably, from TransLink was that there was a financial implication."
He acknowledged that the extended hours would put an extra financial burden on the system, but promised the government would shoulder the load.
"We'll provide the dollars to make sure we cover that off," Falcon said.
When asked why he didn't extend SkyTrain hours during his five years as transportation minister, Falcon said that he made an effort.
"It's one of the issues I raised when I was transportation minister," he said. "I was not able to be successful in getting the issue of extended hours launched."
John Teti, chairman of the Barwatch program, stood beside Falcon as he made the campaign promise.
He said he strongly supported the proposal, and encouraged other leadership candidates to make the same pledge.
"It's a no-brainer. We've got to get this situation fixed," he said. "We want people to come from the suburbs into the downtown area."
But NDP transportation critic Harry Bains said that Falcon's proposal is nothing more than an empty campaign promise.
"Mr. Falcon has no credibility when it comes to public transit," Bains said.
"If he was serious, he would have put this extension of hours at the SkyTrain in place when he was the minister, when he had the opportunity to."
Former city councillor and Simon Fraser University city planner Gordon Price told CTV News that Falcon's promise to provide government funding for the longer hours should be taken with a grain of salt.
"I would take his word on that, however, I would be skeptical. It's during a campaign for leadership," he said.
While Price didn't have an estimate on the cost of running the SkyTrain for longer hours on weekends, he said that it could snowball over the years.
"That's what kills you in the long run is those operating costs over time," he said. "Show us the money. There's going to be some trade-offs here."
Price added that TransLink might have more pressing issues to deal with, such as: "How do we actually get funding so that we can run buses during the day?"
