Transit funding needed to meet housing goals, prevent crowding, say Metro Vancouver mayors

Metro Vancouver’s mayors are calling on senior levels of government for more transit funding they say is critical to support the region’s housing goals and prevent serious overcrowding on buses.

Speaking at the Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention, the mayors touted their new 10-year, $21 billion plan, dubbed ‘Access for Everyone,’ which aims to double bus service across the region and add nine new bus rapid transit lines.

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The plan would also see a gondola built to SFU’s Burnaby Mountain campus, extend the Broadway subway to UBC, and start long-term planning for a rapid transit link to the North Shore.

Port Coquitlam Mayor and TransLink Mayor’s Council Chair Brad West said the provincial and federal government have both leaned on municipalities to expand housing, but that those efforts will fail without the transit to support them.

“I want to be clear, if we do not expand transit we will not be able to reach the targets that are being set for the development of new housing over the coming years,” West said.

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“We know that delaying transit expansion will be a disaster for our region.”

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According to TransLink, Metro Vancouver has seen the fastest growth of transit ridership in North America, with the region as a whole now at 87 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

However, some areas have seen explosive growth far surpassing pre-COVID ridership.

Transit use in Surrey and Langley is at 120 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, and some routes, like the #310 serving Surrey to Ladner, have seen ridership more than double 2019 levels.

System-wide, TransLink saw boardings climb by 16 per cent between 2022 and 2023.

With Metro Vancouver expected to add 50,000 new residents per year overcrowding and bus pass ups are expected to worsen.

The transit and transportation agency estimates that by 2025 nearly 40 per cent of hour hour bus trips will be overcrowded.

“During the afternoon rush hour one third of bus trips in Vancouver rand one-quarter of bus trips in Surrey are overcrowded in the busiest direction, and this will get worse as our population grows,” TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn said.

“We have to get ahead of this growth.”

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Quinn said people choose to live where transit is accessible, particularly if they rent or have a lower income, making expanding the network critical in the housing equation.

“It is really hampering our ability to build in our city, it is starting to impact our ability to produce housing,” Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said.

“This is a no brainer. We’re going to have to do this at some point in time. And if we defer this, all we do is make the challenge harder to overcome,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim added.

The mayors say their new 10-year plan will need senior government funding commitments by June 2024 to meet the goal of starting on service expansion by the end of next year.