TransLink CEO warns projects, expansions could be in jeopardy without funding fix

The head of Metro Vancouver’s transit and transportation agency says ongoing COVID-19-related financial issues could mean trouble for service levels or planned expansions of the regional network.

TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn provided an update on the agency’s finances at Thursday’s mayors’ council meeting, warning that decreased ridership due to the pandemic had created “structural impacts” on transit use.

“Without a long-term funding solution, we may need to consider difficult solutions in the future, and this could result in a range of impacts, reduction of service levels, delaying or outright cancellation of capital projects, or stalling expansion of much-needed service we know this region needs,” Quinn said.

Transit revenues for the month of January alone were about 17 per cent short of expenditures, worth about $7 million.

In 2020, TransLink received $644 million in one-time pandemic aid through the Federal-Provincial Safe Restart Agreement.

Ottawa pledged another $750 million to cities across the country last week, but Quinn said it still wasn’t clear how much of that money would make its way to TransLink.

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Despite the financial challenges, Quinn sounded a note of optimism Thursday about rebounding ridership numbers.

While TransLink saw a sharp drop in transit use in January, which Quinn tied to cold weather and the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, February’s numbers showed promise, he said.

February boardings were about 64.5 per cent of pre-COVID levels, he said.

And boardings climbed to 72.5 per cent of pre-COVID levels over Family Day weekend, the first weekend after B.C. relaxed restrictions on events and gatherings.

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Quinn did not specify which capital projects or expansions could be in jeopardy due to the long-term funding shortfall.

However, TransLink has a number of high-profile projects that remain in the early stages.

The federal government pledged $1.3 billion to the $3.94-billion Surrey-Langley SkyTrain line in July. While the provincial government and partners have pledged up to $2.54 billion more, a report to the TransLink board in August noted work remained to “assess options to fund the remaining project cost.”

A future extension from Arbutus Street in Vancouver to the University of British Columbia of the now-under-construction Broadway subway also remains unfunded, as does a proposed gondola from the SkyTrain Millennium line in Burnaby to Simon Fraser University.