North Vancouver - Dear Editor: Re: Distance Fares Fairer Than Current Transit Zone System, May 31 Mailbox.Further to (letterwriter) Luc Maurice's comment on TransLink's zone system: It costs my family of four adults (two adult children) and two teenagers $43 to cross the inlet to Vancouver on most days.Who can afford this? Except maybe TransLink execs and politicians. We can take our gas guzzler downtown for about $5 in gas and $5-$10 in parking.TransLink's many problems and massive cost overruns started with construction of the"Cadillac" SkyTrain rather than at-grade systems with much of the at-grade infrastructure already in place. This would have easily saved hundreds of millions.Then there is the $800-million Golden Ears Bridge that runs from the metropolis of Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows to Surrey. Hmmm. .. has there ever been a car accident that causes a traffic jam there? Why (not)?Because it gets minimal use. It lost $38 million last year with projected losses ongoing of $35-$45 million a year.If this bridge had not been built, the upgrades could have been done and the fares subsidized to an affordable level.With TransLink's five or six boards at various government levels, the Compass Card fiasco and paying a lame-duck former CEO $468,000 per year, how can we support them? Let us pray for a No victory.TransLink needs to pick some "low hanging fruit." There is plenty of it on the ground, too.Steve TreriseNorth Vancouver
