McInnes: Provincial meddling derails TransLink planning

The abysmal record is there for everyone to see. The suspense and the jockeying now are just about who gets fired and who will get to carry on and try to clean up the mess before the next season starts.

As it stands now, carefully laid expansion plans are in jeopardy because of a revolt by the Mayorsai??i?? Council. Management has a budget with a big hole in it that TransLink Commissioner Martin Crilly wonai??i??t allow them to fill with a fare increase. And the province ai??i?? which might be considered the team owner in this scenario since it has the ultimate power ai??i?? has been operating more like a wrecking ball than a relief valve.

It was the province that set up TransLink and gave it responsibility for planning and operating the transit and regional road network 15 years ago. It also tasked TransLink with raising the money to pay for it. But while paying lip service to the notion that local politicians should be in charge of local transit, it never completely let go of the wheel.

First under the New Democrats, then under the Liberals, the provincial government killed proposals for new ways to raise funds ranging from a vehicle levy to road pricing and regional tolling.

At the same time, it refused to help TransLink solve the multi-million problem of fare evaders as it could have by linking unpaid tickets to the renewal of car insurance or drivers licences. Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom said last week that heai??i??s willing to look at such a solution now, but as far back as 10 years ago only one in 10 riders who were issued a ticket ever bothered to pay the fine.

Five years ago, the Liberal government declared TransLink dysfunctional after it nearly refused to build the Canada Line, which had become a provincial and federal priority because of the 2010 Olympics.

It took much of the responsibility for operating TransLink away from local politicians and put it in the hands of professional management.

That hasnai??i??t worked out so well. An efficiency report that Crilly used as the basis of his refusal last week to allow a requested 12-per-cent fare hike found that while ridership had increased over the previous five years, costs had gone up faster. Compared to other cities, TransLinkai??i??s productivity is lagging and it has a bloated management structure.

While not a big number overall, the cost of policing jumped by 112 per cent, a galling rise given the lack of attention paid to the fact that most people issued tickets are simply throwing them away.

On Friday, the Mayorsai??i?? Council announced that it had decided not to ask homeowners for another $30 million from their property tax. That puts in jeopardy a number of planned improvements to the system, including bus service across the new Port Mann Bridge.

The mayors were responding to the way Lekstrom and Premier Christy Clark had dealt with their proposals to raise the money. The provincial politicians wanted any additions to be on property taxes rather than from new tolling or other new taxes.

So what happens next? TransLink management said Friday they need time to study the twin blows to their financial plan.

Of the two, the Crilly report should be the easiest to deal with, since while denying a revenue increase, it also delivered a road map for cutting operating costs.

The challenge posed by the mayors is more difficult, since it is rooted directly in the ongoing problem of political meddling by provincial politicians. That meddling breaks the accountability chain, which requires that tax increases be made by politicians who can be held accountable by the voters who have to pay them.

So Clarkai??i??s preference for property taxes is understandable. So too is the mayorsai??i?? reluctance to raise them, since they are the ones, not Clark, who will have to face any backlash from unhappy ratepayers.

Meanwhile, another dismal season lies ahead.

cmcinnes@vancouversun.com

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