It seems like every fringe group and cause now has its own Facebook group. And in their infinite wisdom, the media is using the site to gauge public opinion (which is about as reliable as measuring tire pressure with a gun). The latest petition that’s getting headline coverage is the Petition to Keep Skytrain Running 24 Hours, fronted by Surrey resident Scott Podwinski.

As the group title indicates, its goal is to have the trains run full-time for the benefit of “people who work night shifts and people out partying past 1 AM.” It’s racked up over 9,046 members (as of 6:08 PM today) since December 29th and Podwinski hopes to have 50,000 members to take to the TransLink board by the end of the year.

It’s not surprising so many people are signing up, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he did get 50,000 member (50% of them from out of the province or even out of the country), but there are some massive flaws with his ideas, most of which have been eloquently pointed out by the Petition Against The Petition To Keep The Skytrain Open 24 Hours (13 members and growing). They include:

* It would require hiring more security
* It would require hiring more staff to run the SkyTrain (they don’t run by themselves you know)
* Crime around these areas would go up
* It only helps people living around the SkyTrain
* The noise from SkyTrains running at late hours would not excite those who live along the route
* What next? 24 hour buses? 24 hour SeaBus?
* If the Trains are running 24 hours, when will engineers do repairs?

All valid points ignored by the first petition. And like one of the posters points out: “Experienced rail cities like London and Tokyo start and stop trains around the same time as Vancouver.” I have to agree. 24-hour SkyTrain service is both expensive and unnecessary. And I’m sure the people who join this group are the same people that demand cheaper transit fares.