survey conducted by Canadian Facts for the Rapid Transit Project and released in 1998, eight days after Premier Glen Clark stated his preferred technology choice for connecting Coquitlam Centre to Vancouver was SkyTrain, found that: 61 percent of Greater Vancouver residents were "more likely" to support the construction of SkyTrain than ground-level light rail transit; 71 percent said that "even though SkyTrain is more expensive to build, it is better than ground LRT"; 69 percent felt that SkyTrain would have the largest impact on traffic reduction, followed by either transit links (54 per cent), rapid buses on dedicated lanes such as those used for the B-Line bus routes (40 per cent), and less expensive LRT lines (32 per cent); 51 percent said the terminus should have been at UBC, followed by Granville Street (24 per cent) and Commercial–Broadway station (17 per cent); 63 percent said that SkyTrain was the best mode of transportation, followed by the bus system (24 per cent), the West Coast Express (3 per cent) and the SeaBus (1 per cent). Deming Smith of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation believed that the selection of Bombardier's technology was politically charged, because construction workers would vote for Glen Clark's party, the British Columbia New Democratic Party, for providing them with employment. Debt The system had debt problems in 1998. The debt servicing of SkyTrain was three and a half times the actual operating budget, whereas the debt servicing of buses was only one-seventh the operating budget. During construction of the Surrey extension, the Vancouver Regional Transit Commission, a division of BC Transit, was $30 million in debt. The provincial government agreed to cover the debt in 1991 for three years. Environmental impacts In May 2001, protesters halted construction of the Millennium Line in an attempt to save the trees and vegetation within the Grandview Cut. TransLink scrapped the original plan of building a tunnel in favour of a guideway. The bridge over the cut was consequently out of service from April to December 2001. It disrupted bus service and several local businesses, including Canada Post, a hairdressing school, and a restaurant, which experienced a $5,000-per-month loss of revenue. The owner appealed to city hall and the Millennium Line Rapid Transit Project Office for compensation, and complained to Premier Ujjal Dosanjh and Deputy Premier Joy MacPhail. Dosanjh sent her a letter saying he would pass her concerns on to Economic