Rail trail won’t entice commuters from cars

Re: “$6M loan urged to speed up rail trail,” Oct. 20. The chairman of the parks committee thinks that “congestion will only get worse with the McKenzie interchange construction, so developing alternative routes is important.”

The proposal for a $6-million outlay — not chicken feed — has little to do with developing alternate routes into town. It will be a drop in the bucket in convincing commuters to abandon their cars for their bikes. But it seems to have a lot to do with satisfying the bicycle community (once more).

A far better use for the funds would be to prepare the route (from downtown to Langford) for some form of light-rail transit as a serious attempt to provide convenient and efficient transit that could have a significant impact in diminishing the Colwood Crawl (even if it competes with Langford Mayor Stew Young’s elite bus service). Roger Purdue Victoria