The TransLink’s Mayor’s Council has launched a partnership with community leaders focused on calling on Metro Vancouver residents to help urge local government for funding.
New advertising at SkyTrain stations and bus stops and on social media will fast-track communication between community members and their local MLAs, MPs and provincial ministers so they can easily send a letter asking for funding.
It will automatically draft the letter, which reads, “As a Metro Vancouver resident, I’m concerned that our region doesn’t have enough public transit to serve our growing communities.
“If we don’t act now, thousands of people will be left behind by full buses every day and new housing will be left unserved.
“I urge you in your role as an elected official to ensure the necessary funding commitments are made – now – to protect public transit as an essential service and keep our economy and residents moving.”
A number of local groups and organizations support the new campaign, including the Surrey Board of Trade, HUB Cycling, Simon Fraser Student Society and the AMS Student Society of UBC.
The council said with Metro Vancouver populations ever-growing, and expected to continue to grow exponentially in the coming years, the current system is overcrowded and is expected to become four to five times worse by 2025 if no additional services are expanded.
“The Mayors’ Council has unanimously approved the initial phase of the Access for Everyone transit expansion plan, which TransLink is ready to start rolling out in mid-2024 if funding can be secured by April,” the council said in a press release.
“It includes the finalizing of planning for three new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects, expansion of TransLink’s bus fleet and additional bus depot capacity, active transportation and road safety projects, and new bus service starting in September 2024 focused on the most critical off-peak overcrowding hotspots around the region.”
Just last week, TransLink launched the new R6 Rapid Bus service in Surrey, which is the final project of its previous expansion plan.
The council said no further expansions will occur until “regional, provincial and federal governments commit funding.”
“This campaign is designed to help residents tell the Federal Government it’s time for them to step up, and to let the B.C. government know the region needs their continued support to keep expanding its transit system,” the council said.
B.C. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Fleming offered a statement regarding the council’s demands.
“The Mayors’ Council has been warning of the need for expanded transit service for the region. Running a major transit system at 2019 levels does not work with the growth Metro is experiencing,” he said in a statement.
“That is why we are calling on residents to let their government officials know that more transit service is needed now.”
The Access for Everyone petition can be read online.
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