Reaction is pouring in to TransLink’s dire warning about service cuts if it can’t secure stable funding past 2025.
In a new report to the Mayors’ Council, the transit and transportation agency said a $600-million gap in operating funding means it would have to gut bus rapid transit service across the region starting in 2026.
The report projects bus service slashed by half, including ending NightBus, SkyTrain and SeaBus cuts of 30 per cent and the potential end of the West Coast Express.
“We have an expanding population that uses transit. So we need to support that, if we are unable to get the kind of funding that’s needed, it’s going to result in so many dire consequences,” Mayors’ Council vice-chair and Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said.
“It’s going to disproportionately penalize the people who are not only the workers, people with lower incomes, people who are absolutely transit-dependent.”
The report warns that 145 bus routes could be eliminated and a reduction of HandyDART service by 35 per cent.
The communities of Langley, White Rock, South Delta, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows and much of the North Shore would be left with “almost no transit services,” according to the report.
TransLink has been sounding the alarm about a lack of stable funding for years. It blames the operating funding gap on declining gas tax revenue as people switch to electric vehicles, fares held below the rate of inflation, and growing costs related to labour, fuel and maintenance.
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It also follows years of service expansion as TransLink grapples with surging ridership and continues to face overcrowding on many routes.
TransLink has seen the fastest rebound in transit adoption in North America since the COVID-19 pandemic, and some routes in Surrey and Delta have seen ridership double their 2019 levels.
“Ultimately we have to think about what the alternative is,” said Denis Agar with Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders.
“If we don’t fund this transit, is everyone going to jump in a car? Are we going to have to spend on the other end for widening freeways, and people diverting their spending from things in the province to buying gas and cars?”
The NDP government has provided some stopgap funding, and is expected to unveil longer-term funding in its upcoming election platform.
“Our record is clear, David Eby is a strong supporter of transit. We know the region relies on it for people getting to work,” Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said.
In an effort to deal with the funding gap, TransLink has already announced $90 million in cuts, eliminating jobs, research grants and fare evasion enforcement.
The BC Conservatives say that’s not enough and have pledged to provide two years of bridge funding while they audit the agency.
“Right now a mom in Surrey has to watch two or three buses go by before she can get on due to overcrowding,” Conservative Leader John Rustad said.
BC United also trained its rhetorical guns on management of the transit system.
“When you have an inefficient government you have wasted dollars and that means you can do less, not more,” said BC United Leader Kevin Falcon.
Falcon, meanwhile, pledged Thursday to fund construction of a SkyTrain line to the North Shore if elected.
Brodie said the region’s mayors remain confident they can work with both the province and the federal government to come up with a solution.
Ottawa has pledged to create a new Federal Permanent Transit Fund that would disburse $3 billion nationally every year, but not until 2026.