Mayors Council on Transit Begs For More Funding

Ah, the Mayor’s Council on Transit, or the gang who couldn’t operate a Christmas tree train set is begging for more taxpayer’s money.

One has only look at the Stanley Park miniature railway fiasco to understand that politicians do not understand the issues, let alone trying to fix it. There only recourse is to throw more money at the problem, hoping this time for different results.

Not going to happen.

TransLink’s problems is not just financial, it is philosophical, as they are trying to operate a 1970’s transit system in 2024 and it is going badly. There are no real experts overseeing TransLink (the last were fired in 2015 because they opined that there wasn’t sufficient ridership potential on Broadway that would demand a subway) and career bureaucrats run the operation, being more focused on their pension plans that operating a good transit system.

Spending, now $16 billion plus, to build 21.7 km of the “proprietary” MALM light metro system which operates on the Expo and Millennium Lines seems to be a grand waste of the taxpayer’s monies as both will attract very few ‘new’ customers to transit.

But the list goes on and on, yet the “gang who couldn’t shoot straight“, fails to be honest with the public and resorts to scare tactics.

Zwei, in his typical fashion has inked a letter to the Mayor’s Council about the issue and in typical fashion it has been ignored. Increasing taxes without actually dealing with the issues is the cowards way out and cowards accurately sums up the Mayor’s Council’s demand for more funding.

So much easier to tax and spend and ignore the truth and rely on “mom and apple pie” homilies to placate the taxpayer.

It is time for a judicial inquiry on TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit to ascertain the truth, before another nickle is spent on transit.

Next post, A Letter to the mayor’s council on Transit.

TransLink ready to ask new B.C. government for help to secure billions in funding

By Mike Lloyd

Posted October 31, 2024 7:07 am.

TransLink says it can’t save Metro Vancouver’s transit services without the help of the incoming provincial government, and those needs come with a very large price tag.

The region’s transit authority is asking for an annual $2.9 billion from senior levels of government to go into a fund to be used for capital spending.

TransLink’s Mayors’ Council will be discussing the results of its “Save Transit” provincial campaign at its Oct. 31 meeting, along with how it should proceed with the incoming NDP government.

“We look forward to getting to work immediately on Day 1 with the next government to fix TransLink’s broken funding model,” said Mayors’ Council Chair Brad West.

That work includes a proposed $3.4 billion per year Access for Everyone Fund which would include $500 million per year in new operating revenues as well $2.9 billion per year in senior government contributions to capital projects.

In an open letter written in July, West said the $2.9 billion request reflects what is necessary to continue delivering the transit services the region needs and avoid severe overcrowding amidst surging population growth.

“This amount is realistic and consistent with the level of investment by other provincial governments into their public transit systems and by the B.C. government into other essential services such as hydro-electricity and health care,” West wrote.

“Here in B.C., the Provincial government recently announced $36 billion over ten years for BC Hydro, $2.3 billion for the Highway 1 expansion project, and $13 billion in infrastructure funding for healthcare projects such as the new cancer care centre in Surrey and the redevelopment of St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.

“Public transit is an essential public utility that must expand, similar to other provincial services, as our population surges,” he added.

West argues TransLink can’t meet the needs of the region without the help of the next provincial government.

A report going before the Mayors’ Council Thursday morning says that “this work will need to begin as soon as a new government forms to ensure there is sufficient time for TransLink’s Investment Plan approval process to complete by the end of April 2025 so that potential transit service cuts starting in 2026 can be avoided.”

Earlier this year, TransLink warned of the potentially drastic cuts unless it could find solutions to a looming $600 million annual funding shortfall.