January 21, 2010 316 – 2345 5th Avenue West

Vancouver, British Columbia

V6K 1S6
(604) 999-0510
rebecca.abernethy@gmail.com

Dear Mayor Robertson,

The UBC Student Transportation Forum (STF) is a multidisciplinary group composed

of students, professors and urban planning professionals who are interested in
advancing and advocating for sustainable transportation plans, policies and programs,
while simultaneously reducing societal reliance on the private automobile. The STF
was created to provide opportunities for critical discourse on urban transportation
issues in Metro Vancouver and beyond. Our interest in sustainable transportation
stems from our collective concern around climate and environmental change, peak oil
and energy security, the obesity epidemic and from our desire to create a livable
Metro Vancouver Region for future generations.

Recently the STF had the opportunity to tour the Olympic Line, Vancouver’s
downtown streetcar project, which will operate during the 2010 Olympics. Aside from
being a stunning public transit vehicle, the Olympic Line represents the type of public
transit investment that the STF believes is crucial to achieving the sustainability and
livability goals of Vancouver and the region. Although the project is only a
demonstration, it showcases the potential for light rail and illustrates the crucial
relationship between land use planning and transportation choices. During the
Olympic period the streetcar will shuttle thousands of national and international
visitors through Vancouver, shifting the public perception of urban transportation and
providing a glimpse of what a transit-oriented Vancouver could look like.

The STF would like to extend our thanks for helping to make this exciting and timely
project a reality. Our collective experience in engineering, public health and urban
planning suggests these are the types of projects our policy makers and politicians of
the region should continue to support. Historically, the Metro Vancouver Region has
been relatively successful in creating a compact, transit accessible region. In order to
maintain our economic and social prosperity while facing tremendous growth pressure
in suburban areas currently not well served by public transit, it is absolutely critical
that a properly funded public transportation system designed to serve the daily
mobility needs of our dynamic population is an ongoing priority.

In future the STF will continue to support the projects and people who make this vision
of our future a reality.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Abernethy, on behalf of the UBC Student Transportation Forum