New Democrat Transport Critic Olivia Chow say Surrey needs hundreds more buses to meet the needs of local commuters.

The Toronto MP for TrinitySpadina was in Surrey Friday to press the need for a national transit strategy, on the heels of the release of the Study on Transit Report in Canada last Wednesday in the House of Commons.

The report, drafted by the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communications, calls on the federal government to establish a long-term infrastructure funding program toward improving public transit, and for all levels of government to pursue "greater private sector involvement in the provision of mass transit."

Chow and her NDP colleagues, however, argue public-private partnerships "often lead to inflated overall costs, higher user fees, and increased complexity and time required to plan large projects."

The NDP, and Liberals, want a dedicated infrastructure fund to be established. One way to go, Chow argues, is to tap into current gas taxes.

"Here in Surrey they certainly need hundreds more buses and it's a federal and provincial responsibility but especially the federal government given most of your taxes go to the federal government," she said, during an interview with the Now.

"Every time you pump gas, 10 cents per litre goes to the federal government, and where's the money? You would think some of that money - five cents comes to the municipalities - but what of the other five cents?"

Just where does all that cash go?

"That's a very good question," Chow said. "It goes to general revenue, to maybe buy a few more fighter jets, or build a few more prisons, or maybe to give their (the Tories) friends a bit more money. Every time they have a G8 summit, they throw money to their friends."

Chow argues that cash would be better put to use helping cities like Surrey to fix their roads and provide better public transit. She noted that Canada takes in roughly 150,000 new immigrants each year and most end up living in the bigger cities, like Surrey.

Chow noted that the situation, as it is, is quite dire as most urban Canadian commuters spend 36 days of every year stuck in traffic - one of the worst situations among all of the world's developed countries. Chow also noted Canada is the only country in the G20 to not have a national public transit strategy.

"If you don't plan ahead, you end up wasting money," she said.

"People are concerned about traffic jams. They (Harper's government) can talk about law and order until they turn purple. If you throw all the money to prisons and don't spend any money making sure there's good public transit, it's just asking for trouble."

Chow wants the federal government, with input from the provincial government and TransLink, to develop a transit strategy for the next 20 or 30 years that would set in place how much the federal government will be required to pay.

"All the developing countries, they are spending a huge amount of money on public transit. So far, in Canada, we don't have electric trains. We're going backwards rather than forwards whereas everybody else, they're moving forward."

tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com

PATTULLO BRIDGE FORUMS BEGIN

SURREY - Workshops to update the public on plans for a new Pattullo Bridge begin today and run until Monday.

TransLink and its stakeholders have been reviewing a variety of options for a new bridge, which will be presented at a series of workshops in Surrey and New Westminster.

Originally designed for a service life of 50 years, the existing bridge has served the region for 75 years.

Translink invites the public to attend the upcoming forums to have their say about the way the new bridge will be built.

Options under consideration include locations immediately upstream and downstream of the current location, and different configurations for the approaches and connections on either side of the bridge.

The workshops will begin with an open house, followed by a half-hour presentation.

Participants will then break out into small groups and the meeting will close with reports from the groups.

Workshops will be held at 6: 30 p.m. on the following dates:

- Today - Centennial Community Centre, New Westminster

- Wednesday - City Centre Library, Surrey

- Thursday - Inn at the Quay, New Westminster

- Monday - City Centre Library, Surrey

For more information, please visit www.translink. ca/pattullo.

Amy Reid

twitter@tomzytaruk