LANGLEY, B.C. – The traffic gridlock expected by many truckers when Vancouver’s transit strike began has failed to materialize, and in fact traffic is lighter than usual on the area’s roads.

B.C. Trucking Association president, Paul Landry, says that trucking companies haven’t had to deal with excess traffic congestion due to the strike, and that’s good news for the province’s trucking industry.

“Although there are likely more cars on the road because of the strike, our members are reporting faster travel times and less-than-usual congestion during the past five weeks in the Lower Mainland,” says Landry. “Let’s face it. When there are hundreds of buses stopping and starting every few hundred yards, there’s going to be an impact on traffic. When those buses aren’t there, space is freed up and the rest of the traffic doesn’t need to drive around them.”

Landry says that it’s time to re-evaluate the focus of TransLink, the transportation agency that controls public transit.

“Their long-term plan calls for 90 per cent of expenditures on transit and only 10 per cent on roads to 2010. In light of our experience with the transit strike, we believe that we need to re-examine the proposition that buses ease congestion by taking cars off the roads,” says Landry. n