Of course not everyone agrees but, the idea comes up rather frequently that what makes Bowen so special is not simply its rural charm, but also the fact that we are just a hop, skip and a ferry-ride away from Vancouver.
There are moments when I don’t agree with this sentiment either. Usually, those moments occur when I am inching along Taylor Way watching a long line of other cars continue to inch over the Lion’s Gate Bridge.
Which brings us to the stark reality of the fact that whether or not we choose to be, Bowen Islanders are intimately connected to a city ranked as number 20 on the list of the world’s most congested cities.
And while it is so easy to gripe about the cost of a ferry trip, I think it is worthwhile to look at the big picture of our transportation woes. If I had a choice, I would take public transit on every trip I take to the city. But that’s not realistic, because my trips tend to be about running errands in all corners, hauling multiple children and then transporting goods, which are sometimes very heavy (a door, recently) back to Bowen.
So there I am stuck in traffic missing the days I spent on my bicycle. And at that moment, I am really just wishing we had a better, more comprehensive system of public transportation system in the hopes that more people would make use of it. Because I am an optimist (sort of) I actually think that they would - maybe not all of them, but I do believe every car off the road is a good thing.
Is the Mayors’ Plan the magic bullet that will releive my angst? There’s no guarantee... but as far as I can tell, it is the only plan we’ve got, and working together with other communities to pool resources and attempt to solve this huge problem seems to me a better road to travel than standing as a lone voice in the wilderness yelling about our problems. We may live on an island, but I’m not sure we can afford to think like one.
