Despite the Divisive Nature of Mass Transportation
Despite the fact that mass transportation has been identified as the most preferred network for all forms of growth in the world's major urban areas, the subject remains highly divisive. All stakeholders, including citizens, would prefer the convenience of public transit. Nonetheless, no one is willing to pay the price. A good example is transportation logistics in Vancouver, British Columbia, a city with one of the most sophisticated and modern metropolis features (Hutton, 2011). Nonetheless, unlike its contemporaries around the world, the city lacks major and critical freeways into and out of the town in the central area. Even though there was a proposal in the 1960s to develop a freeway through the closed regions, the community of leaders, the planners, and the citizenry coalition was opposed to the same. Indeed, this issue would become a signaling emergence of the Vancouver urban landscape, even to date (Hutton, 2011).
The Complexity of Implementing Mass Transit in Vancouver
The need for the implementation of the mass transit network remains an inevitable strategy because the city is surrounded by water on the southern and northern ends. The provincial law has been named as one of the most controversial policies that affect mass transit implementation in the city, considering that even ridesharing services are banned, the likes of Uber (Lascoumes & Le Galès, 2007). The populace of the city is predicted to double in three decades' time. Therefore, the UBC-Broadway corridor could not be in a capacity to enable convenient mass transit, considering that even current services are met under struggle. Nevertheless, there are major long-term gains possible, for instance, creating direct subway lines to UBC and SFU that have been mired in controversy. In 2015, a referendum on raising taxes slightly to pay for a new mass transport project failed by 60% to 40% in Vancouver. Therefore, using Vancouver as an example, it is not only critical to outline why it is hard to have mass transit funded but also imperative to analyze what policy instruments are available and their restraints in explaining transport issues.
The Role of Public Policy in Mass Transit
In the case of Vancouver, mass transit remains to be a cardinal question of national importance, and thus, it directly affects the decision making of all stakeholders at the city and federal levels. Therefore, the funding of the related projects stands high chances of inevitably meeting controversial approaches, leading to the difficulty in funding the next course of action to implement mass transit. As such, public policy becomes a central element of the discussion. The public policy instrumentation and the choices of tools pertinent to it to offer a multifaceted approach; one of which entails an argument that the governing involves the processes of collecting taxes regulating communication, as well as formulating and entering into contracts (Lindblom, 2007). On the other hand, the second critical issue arises in the argument of policy making and instrumentation asserting that the properties related to instruments of policy-making justification entail the elements of choosing them and the eventual culmination into their applicability as well as their workability. All these factors are critical in formulating the rationality of methods and approaches without an autonomous practice. In the same vein, these elements remain central in the guest to funding the mass transit process in Vancouver.
The Political and Sociological Mechanisms of Mass Transit
The mass transit implementation of the Vancouver city is intrinsically bound to the policy-making of the region. Therefore, the political and sociological mechanisms of approach are fundamental elements in the guest to accounting for the instruments of government policies change, repealing, as well as reinvigorating. To this account, it is important to note that in Vancouver, public policy instrumentation is an issue of great concern in the public arena since the whole process reveals and puts explicit all the theories linked to the government and those that are governed, who are the taxpayers. Indeed, every instrument of policy is a combination of the condensed knowledge about the governing stakeholders, the social fraternity, and the methodology of exercising the same (Lascoumes & Le Galès, 2007). On the other hand, the devices about the instruments at work on the mass transit policy are not neutral per se. This is because many specific effects are witnessed in the process, whose influence is independent of the set objectives, hence affecting the policy-making process.
Constraints in Funding Mass Transit
In the quest to implementing the instruments of public policy about the funding and hence the application of the mass transit in Vancouver, some of the constraints in the financing include the many barriers witnessed as financial, cultural, and political factors as well as institutional and legal aspects. Walls typically block the implementation of hoped-for objectives and the delay in the implementation of the same. While some of the obstacles are rigid, others are flexible (Banister, 2005). The latter can easily be overcome by diplomatic and sophisticated technical approaches. However, the former is very resistant despite the engagement of many resources. Similarly to the case with Vancouver, the matters concerning land issues are the most rigid, as many barriers are escalated regarding management, policy as well as information measures.
Positive and Negative Barriers in Vancouver
On the other hand, the barriers witnessed in Vancouver can be related to the instruments of policy accomplishments on a dichotomous approach, the primary segments being whether they are negative or positive obstacles. The positive barriers are those that have been witnessed to emerging when one of the strategic objectives toward implementing massive transit restricts the measures inculcated to enable the achievement of other central targets (Lindblom, 2007). An example in the region is the concern for the environment, considering that Vancouver is one of the greenest, densely populated, and highly recreational cities in the world, hence, the imposition could as well better the situation or raise many controversial issues. On the other hand, the negative barriers witnessed in Vancouver is exemplified by the lack of adequate legislation and controversial policymaking, which has resulted in the observed delays and increase in the estimated costs in the guest to implementing the mass transit network within the city.
Interrelated Constraints in Explaining Transport Issues
Constraints in explaining transport issues in Vancouver are interrelated to many factors. Road building, land use, and pricing are some of the most fundamental elements in consideration, subjected to legal constraints. A greater portion of the highly developed global cities depicts and analyzes legal barriers as significant imposing difficulties in mass transit than any other pertinent constraints. On the other hand, two fields of development in Vancouver which are subject to enormous financial difficulties include public transport infrastructure and the construction of roads. As opposed to the latter two, information and availability of technical data are the least constraining elements. The main issue is that big cities such as Vancouver experience the extreme forms of constraint when it comes to the utilization of land (Lascoumes & Le Galès, 2007). Politics is another area of concern that causes a barrier to mass transit policies. The measures of acceptability are often linked to the political landscape of the city and by extension the country. Road construction and pricing are the central elements when it comes to mass transit development commitments. On the other hand, the availability of suitable, reliable, competent, accountable, and realistic technological sophistication to meet the mass transit demands is central to the whole issue. Informed engineering, related experience, and superior capabilities are desirable in establishing a platform for massive transportation networks in an expedient and less inconveniencing manner (Lindblom, 2007).
Overcoming Barriers to Mass Transit Implementation
Nevertheless, the essence of the establishment of the mass transit system in the central cities surpasses the need for constraints, hence the need for coming up with critical measures to treat the limitations. It remains clear that there are many barriers while trying to implement policy measures in the city of Vancouver today. Nevertheless, a clear strategy employed over a period of one decade to five years is formidable enough to overcome the same. Furthermore, related rational expose and subjecting to the scrutiny of the reason the constraining factors can establish a reliable platform in eliminating the barriers. Consequently, if there are statutes that offer resistance in such development, then they should be abolished, while the existing rules that delay the implementation process should, on the other hand, be revised to meet the current challenges (Banister, 2005). On the contrary, if finance is the major barrier, then legal precepts leading to the constraint should be remodeled and enabled to make the funding convenient for the projects.
References
Banister, D. (2005). Unsustainable transport: City transport in the new century. Transport development and sustainability. Journal of Transport Geography, 14(6), 472-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2006.09.002.
Hutton, T. A. (2011). Thinking metropolis: From the “livable region” to the “sustainable metropolis” in Vancouver. International Planning Studies, 16(3), 237–255. doi: 10.1080/13563475.2011.591144
Lascoumes, P., & Le Galès, P. (2007). Understanding public policy through its instruments: From the nature of instruments to the sociology of public policy. Governance, 20(1), 1-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2007.00342.x.
Lindblom, C. E. (2007). The science of “muddling through”. Public Administration Review, 19(2), 79–88. doi: 10.2307/973677.
