The Evergreens are Evergreener and the Streets are Paved with Mass Transit in British Columbia

In case you missed it on Monday, British Columbia Liberals announced a $14 billion transit upgrade plan.

The Vancouver region already has the 49-kilometre SkyTrain system - the longest automated transit system in the world. But Mr. Campbell yesterday committed to about 30 kilometres of new SkyTrain-style and light-rapid-transit lines, plus bus systems elsewhere in the province, and $1.6-billion for 1,500 new clean-technology buses to increase the provincial fleet by about 60 per cent.

B.C. is putting up $4.75-billion, and hoping for $3.1-billion from Ottawa.

TransLink, the regional transit authority, will be on the hook for $2.75-billion, and local governments will have to contribute $500-million.

One of the most dramatic pieces of the plan is a $2.8-billion subway-style line running 12 kilometres across central Vancouver into the booming University of British Columbia by 2020.

Now that is a state government making a commitment to transit. A real commitment to the environment above and beyond the transit plan is said to be coming.

If the program is completed in its entirety it will mean an additional 400 million transit trips a year, and not just in Vancouver; the plan will upgrade links around the province including Victoria and Kelowna. The money comes from budget surpluses in BC and the private sector.

Meanwhile, the Washington legislature has announced nothing, but hinted that if you want transit trips maybe you should start here.

Image courtesy of Seattle Daily Photo.