TransLink CEO says a larger solution is needed to address transit funding gaps
Buses line the Vancouver Transit Centre in Vancouver on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. British Columbia is earmarking up to $300 million in new capital funding to help TransLink, Metro Vancouver's transit provider, add more buses to its fleet. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan CairnsVancouver’s regional transit agency is preparing to cut costs and find new revenue to save $91-million a year in its $2.4-billion budget as a first step to dealing with the “imminent fiscal cliff” it says it is facing.
A report going to the mayors’ council Thursday says the agency is in the grip of a structural deficit – the “fiscal cliff” – as revenues are declining while costs for many new services, along with existing ones, are soaring. But Mr. Quinn said scaling back new services that are in the works, like the new bus rapid-transit lines and additional routes, is not on the table.
The TransLink report says the agency was able to maintain services since the beginning of the pandemic as a result of huge injections of relief funding from the provincial and federal governments. B.C. provided TransLink with $655-million in extra transfers in 2022 and 2023, while the federal government gave about $355-million.As a result, TransLink, like transit operations in Montreal and Toronto, is finding itself confronting a difficult financial future.
TransLink fare revenue, which provides about a quarter of the operations money, suffered because the province prohibited fare increases. At the same time, ridership was almost halved in the early part of the pandemic and even now it is only at about 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with central Vancouver and other central suburbs at 72 per cent as fewer people travel downtown.
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