TransLink and the Canada Line – The real story
The following was emailed to me last night and contains some explosive comments about TransLink and the RAV/Canada Line.
Rand Chatterjee is one of the very few people who took the time to research the cost of the RAV/Canada Line and he clearly understands the nuances of the P-3 contract and the negative impact on the taxpayer.
Zwei has been onto the TransLink/Canada Line game since its inception and it is very good to see other people now very interested at the goings on at TransLink, especially the financial aspects of the organization. Not all is what it seems to be and it looks like TransLink’s hoopla is nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the real story, that TransLink is slowly being bankrupted by the three (soon to be four) mini-metro lines.
Jennifer et al,
The essence of my original email was that TransLink is spending well beyond its means and isnai??i??t providing adequate transit while it is using insignificant fare evasion losses and exaggerated ridership records as red herrings.Ai?? Here is a very insightful comment from The Georgia Straight about TransLink bamboozling and swindling taxpayers in order for TransLinkai??i??s private partners to profit:
RandAi??Ai??Ai??Chatterjee
The big, untold reason for the failure to begin the Evergreen Line construction in earnest and actuallyAi?? sign a contract is the Canada Line, aka RAV.
Translink’s newestAi??Ai??”gas tax” increase brings its take at the pump to over double what it wasAi?? just ten years ago, up to now 17 cents per litre. This is the largest part of the reason why gas prices in the Metro Vancouver area are the highestAi??in Canada, and by a lot. The latest 2-cent rise was supposed to fully fundAi??the Evergreen Line, and this indeed was exactly the justification for theAi?? increase. But, yet, nothing is happening. Why not?
A recent FOI uncovered that the Canada Line is sucking over $120 million out ofAi??Translink every year. Its actual operating costs are roughly a tenth ofAi??Ai??this amount. The rest, about $100 million, are what are termedAi??”performance payments,” which the provincial government stipulated would be turned over every year to repay the contractor for its financialAi??participation in the P3 (public-private-partnership) that was the RAVAi??Ai??project. According to bank records, the RAV partners borrowed no more thanAi??Ai??$600 million to complete the line. The amount may been less than $500Ai??million, the gap between the authorized $1.5 billion paid by theAi??government and the claimed $2 billion cost of the project.
GivenAi??the 30-year concession duration of this P3 RAV project, we can thus expect the presumed $500 million private sector contribution will be repaid atAi?? least 5 times over…that is if that $100 million per year does notAi??increase. It has been going up by nearly $10 million every year since the first year of payments in 2009.
If we deflate just a $100 millionAi??annual revenue stream to determine a net present value of this P3 public debt, we are still looking at a doubling of the supposed RAV price tagAi??from $2 billion to $4 billion in today’s dollars. In nominal dollars, weAi??will be paying well over $4.5 billion. If you want to look at it in termsAi??Ai??of an interest rate, the taxpayer is paying the RAV Line “investors” overAi??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai?? 20% interest, per year and compounded. Some deal!
The cost of theAi??Evergreen Line is supposed to be roughly $1.2 billion, but it is clear whyAi??this recent gas tax and likely another one soon enough, and additionalAi??property taxes, and other governmental contributions will be needed first just to pay for RAV, and the likelihood of ever funding the Evergreen LineAi?? is decreasing every year as a mountain of P3 debt continues to crushAi??Ai??Translink, and the taxpayer.
If you are waiting for a bus, whoseAi??service was reduced, and don’t have enough money for the now moreAi??expensive fare, this is why. It’s pure graft. Most everyone at Translink, especially the senior executives, drive to work. They knowAi??better.
Read everything Eric Doherty writes. You’ll learn a lotAi??about Transit policy, and how much better BC’s should be.
On the TransLink website, TransLink boasts that the RAV Line moved 104,682 people on average in May 2010.Ai?? Moreover, TransLink CEO, Ian Jarvis seems to be stoking this misconception:
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/86201–canada-line-could-be-paid-off-sooner-than-expected
Unfortunately, TransLink CEO, Ian Jarvis is not telling the truth.Ai?? Perhaps Ian Jarvis is merely too inept.Ai?? Maybe he is too removed from the reality of transit to know that almost every person on transit makes two trips daily ai??i?? otherwise almost everyone would never return home at night.
According to TransLink ridership-data, based on two trips daily per person on average, the true number of people carried by the RAV Line is about 39,985 people on average (see attachment).Ai?? Patrons moved on the RAV Line is the basis for the true economics of the RAV Line and not some fictional tally of imagined paying riders by TransLink.Ai?? Based on each person paying $1,000 annually (overly conservative and optimistic) to ride the RAV Line (undeservingly renamed to the Canada Line to win over the hearts of patriotic Canadians), the RAV Line generates at most $40 million annually.
Because many people on the RAV Line are transfers from buses or concession riders (U-Pass students) paying little to use it, the RAV Line must surely generate no more than a few million dollars in revenue annually, if that.Ai?? After TransLink pays for the control room operators, electrical power consumption, RAV Line security, frequent break downs… RAV Line maintenance – the RAV Line has to be losing money for the $2 billion spent by TransLink.
Thanks to TransLink publishing false information on transit use, Colliers-International is now proclaiming the RAV Line as a resounding success moving 100,000 people daily in 2010:
http://www.colliers-international.com/vancouver/MarineGateway/MG_Brochure.pdf
This is incredible as TransLink only moves about 300,000 people daily on a good day in all of Metro Vancouver.Ai?? I expect a full retraction and apology displayed prominently on the front page of every newspaper in Metro Vancouver (paid by TransLink CEO, Ian Jarvis, and not by taxpayers) as TransLink is misrepresenting the number of people on transit and it is tantamount to fraud with legal ramifications.Ai?? He will run the retraction and apology by February 15, 2012 or risk legal consequences.
TransLink plans to spend $1.4 billion to repeat the RAV Line fiasco with the Evergreen Line even though TransLink canai??i??t afford to operate trolley buses on trolley bus routes and canai??i??t afford enough buses at peak hours to avoid overcrowding on buses.Ai?? This foolish and audacious ai???moving forward planai??? is not ai???on trackai??? as TransLink contends.
TransLink is not relevant when it has to ai???sell the Evergreen Lineai??? based on job creation during construction.Ai?? Is TransLink a make work program for friends of TransLink or a transit organization for transit users?Ai?? TransLink is corrupt.Ai?? TransLink canai??i??t finance the Evergreen Line unless it continues to sacrifice conventional transit service to spend on its silly SkyTrain schemes for its private partners to profit.Ai?? I trust that the mayors (copied) will quickly withdraw their support for the Evergreen Line to protect taxpayers from higher taxes and to protect transit users from not only poorer transit service but also higher transit fares.
Regards,
Eric
http://www.rockantenne.de/webplayer/?playchannel=alternative
My God, the “Eye: has been saying this for years and for my efforts, I have been not only booed, libeled, slandered, spit upon and more!
It is sad the the mainstream media still prefer advertising revenue from TransLink instead of investigating the real story at TransLink.
As public is still considered a “mom and apple pie” issue, no one will do any investigative reporting on TransLink, for fear of being branded anti-transit and this is the only thing that the slow-witted types that infest TransLink know!
A couple of points. Translink is making accelerated payments on the p3 debt because of its higher interest rate. This is the reason for the larger payments to the p3. The other point is as far as i know most transit agencies measure ridership in trips so no surprises translink does too. Interesting to note that fare recovery is now over 50%….something has made translink much more iffecient in the last few years…..hint i doubt it was the new bus routes.