Another smoking ban success story - I just returned from a trip to Vancouver, BC. Vancouver is a lovely, lively city with an active bar scene. They also have a smoking ban. Like other places with such bans, the bars and pubs seem not to have suffered. They are far more pleasant, healthy places to enjoy a beer with friends and smokers don't seem too inconvenienced by having to step outside to smoke.
Vancouver also has the Skytrain, an advanced light rapid transit system (ALRTS). Unlike our Hiawatha Line, it links the center city with the suburbs and, outside of downtown, is elevated so that there are no conflicts with road-borne traffic (it uses a tunnel in downtown). It is also a driverless system. http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/vancouver/ I rode this and found it to be fast, comfortable and highly useful. Most of the buses entering the downtown area are electric, powered from overhead wires. In addition to being less polluting than diesel-engined busses, they also accelerate more quickly giving a faster ride. Using them on the proposed I-35 dedicated bus lanes would offer some advantages I should think. The population of the Vancouver metropolitan area is about 1.8 million, just about the size of the Twin Cities metro area. I think we could benefit from their experience in a number of areas. Charlie Swope Ward 1 _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
