Electric Vehicles

I am proposing to municipalities in the greater Victoria area that we make the unused E&N corridor a zero emission low speed (under 40kph) silent highway (rather than spend 5 times as much on light rail transit requiring a taxpayer subsidy).  We could pave over the dilapidated E&N rail line and use electric sightseeing buses like the one above.  This 4-metre-wide bus lane would allow for bi-directional shuttle buses or one-way full-size vehicles if hwy 1 is closed. 

This could solve the Colwood crawl issue with a total infrastructure cost of only $9 million for a 15km route from Vic West to West Langford.  Buy 20 of these sightseeing buses for $180k to move 1,400 people during rush hour traffic from Langford to Victoria in the morning and then back in the evening (bus every 3 minutes).  These buses can be driven on the regular roads as well (local micro-transit).  Advertizing on the buses could pay for the bus and operating costs.

This silent highway could also be extended up to Goldstream and used as a zero emission multi-use trail to save the $160 million plan to add a 1.7 km cantilevered bike lane along hwy 1.

We are also on the verge of having safe autonomous (self-driving) electric vehicles like Zoox that is already operating in Las Vegas without a driver. https://zoox.com/  By 2030, it seems likely we will be able to buy affordable self-driving electric sightseeing buses for this corridor.