To the editor:
Re: Rapid transit, a missed opportunity.
If we look around the world at expanding cities like Kelowna, we see the advancement towards electrified rapid rail transit. There was a great opportunity missed when CN closed the rail link from Kelowna to points north. The rail bed was there already to do the same.
Admittedly a lot of money would have to be spent to do this, but a lot more would have been needed to have started it from scratch. The line even went right by the airport. Yes we have spent millions on a hiking/biking trail that allows hundreds of people to get to their jobs and homes, but we could have moved thousands on a rapid rail line. How many people do we see riding their bikes with their bags to the airport? You have to drive to the airport from either Vernon or Kelowna (or take a bus or a cab) and should you park there for a week, spend almost $100 instead of the price of what could have been a rail ticket. A missed opportunity.
If our forefathers that built the rail line and 18 trestles around a mountain had still been with us I am sure this would have been done. So instead we widen the highway putting more vehicles on the road with money that could have gone towards the rail line upgrade.
David Caldwell, West Kelowna