Editor: Re: “Aircare is worth saving,” (letter, The Times, May 31).
Frank Bucholtz is right on in his May 29 editorial assessment that the AirCare bureaucracy is redundant and has served its purpose.
I don’t fault COPE union local 378 motive in trying to save their jobs at AirCare, however it’s in the better interest to end the program as these are non-productive public sector jobs, entirely funded by us beat-up, fed-up taxpayers.
AirCare, operated by a TransLink subsidiary Pacific Vehicle Testing Technologies Ltd. is a P-3 public-private-partnership with 10 of the 12 AirCare testing stations 50 per cent owned by Intrawest Canada, a private developer.
The program is a for-profit venture with Envirotest conducting the emissions testing, with a contract that guarantees constant profits of nine per cent of revenue. When cost shortfalls in the program occur, guess who bails out PVTT and TransLink — us tax-suckers again.
The emission statistics that are provided by AirCare are obviously biased, as they are supplied by the Envirotest contractor whose best interest is self-served to embellish high failure rates to promote and perpetuate the program.
For passenger vehicles, the first seven model years are exempt from testing, 2006-2012. Then vehicles from 1992-2005 are only required to be tested every two years with a $45 fee.
The average failure rate of these vehicles is approximately five per cent, and many of them are very slight fails or marginal. This means approximately 95 per cent are passing, nowhere near enough of a problem to waste millions of tax dollars on.
Many of the failed tests are done purposely by mechanics, as a $23 time-saving diagnostic measure to find out and zero in on the problem.
AirCare sucks a minimum of $25 million annually directly out of our economy, not counting all the inconvenience and cost of peoples’ nonproductive off-work time, and fuel wasted getting to and from the testing stations.
The stations’ properties could be sold off to help TransLink’s bottom line.
COPE 378 union rep Heather Lee’s contention that AirCare pumps $35 million of revenue per year into the local auto repair economy is not valid. Vehicles still need to be repaired, regardless of AirCare. With the high price of fuel, it is in everyone’s best interest to maintain their vehicles in efficient tune.
Most dealers and repair shops phone us before regular tune-ups are due, as they want the business.
TransLink’s overgrown bureaucracy has been piling on the taxes excessively and this is definitely one outdated service that we can do without.
The Liberals promised to cancel AirCare before the last election too to get votes, then reneged once they were elected. Why are they once again promising to cancel it, but only at the end of 2014?
By that time, they will probably be history. Can we trust the socialist ‘Cap and Trade’ NDP to deep six it? That leaves the BC Conservatives, who I’m sure would axe it.
Roland Seguin,
Langley