Yes, TransLink does Need An Overhaul!
Common sense at last.
Ever since Gordon Campbell and Kevin Falcon and had a hissy fit over the then TransLink Board (made up of local mayors) rejecting the Canada Line metro due to cost concerns, and gutted public oversight for the ponderous bureaucracy and insteadAi??creatingAi??the so called Board of Experts, TransLink has been, to be polite, dysfunctional.Ai??The new board of Experts turned up to beAi??nothing more than a board of rank amateurs.
The new board’s first action? Yup, you got it, greatly increase their stipends! I guess the new board was expert in feathering their new nest!
TransLink is not just dysfunctional, it has completely isolated itself from the public and public opinion and cares little that it has. TransLink would rather hire very expensive spin doctors, toAi??weave the TransLink story, rather than be truthful with the public. The result: A disastrous public relationship.
What most people do not realize, TransLink could disappear entirely tomorrow and not effect transit operations one iota, because TransLink doesn’t run transit directly,Ai??instead separate bureaucracies operate the bus and metro systems. The planning component of TransLink could be eliminated and private consultants could be hired to plan for regional transit, just like Rail for the Valley did three years ago by engaging Leewood Projects of the UK to plan for a regional passenger rail line utilizing the former BC electric Interurban route.
TransLink has all butAi??ignored the RftV/Leewood Study and now claim they are not interested in any rail study unless 10 minute headways can be achieved, strangely the West coat Express doesn’t maintain 10 minute headways either, but then TransLink rules only apply South of the Fraser it seems.
Not only does TransLink need an overhaul, our entire transit philosophy, so entrenched in the 1960’s, needs an overhaul as well.
In the 21st century, public transit is seen as a product and to be successful with the public the transit ‘product‘ needs to satisfy the needs and wants of the public at an affordable cost. To date, TransLink has been utterlyAi??incapableAi??providingAi??this.
TheAi??sad ship TransLink has hit the finacial iceberg only the capatain and crew are unaware of it.
TransLink needs ‘complete overhaul’: Mayor
TransLink watchdog rejects 12.5 per cent fare hike, but cash fares may still go upBy Staff Reporter, The Province April 11, 2012
Mayors, pundits and the public agree: Itai??i??s time to rethink TransLink.
TransLink Commissioner Martin Crilly has rejected a proposed 12.5 per cent fare increase for 2013, citing the ai???hardshipai??? caused by fare hikes and the likelihood TransLink could raise the money by running more efficiently.
Crilly, TransLinkai??i??s independent regulator, said TransLink could find $40 to $50 million in cost savings between 2013 and 2015, if it rethinks transportation system costs, logistics and maintenance.
ai???Weai??i??ve reached the point where there has to be a complete rethink of TransLink, its governance and its operation, because this model isnai??i??t working,ai??? said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie.
TransLink has been stymied in its bid to find revenue from other sources, such as a vehicle levy or road tax, nor is the Mayorsai??i?? Council, which once ran TransLink, keen to keep funding TransLink from property tax revenue.
Brodie, who chaired TransLink for two years when it was made up of elected mayors, said the current appointed board ai???operates behind closed doors.
ai???We donai??i??t know what theyai??i??re doing and the remuneration they receive is outrageous,ai??? said Brodie, noting the chair gets more than $100,000 annually.
ai???I think TransLink is in a terrible bind. It needs long term funding sources.
ai???You need a complete overhaul of TransLink, you cannot have it lurching along the track from financial crisis to financial crisis.ai???
Gordon Price, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University and a former Vancouver councillor, said the public has ai???a love-hate relationship with TransLink.
ai???The conclusion people can fairly draw is that the commissioner is saying to TransLink you donai??i??t need more money, that there is waste, find the efficiencies,ai??? said Price.
ai???This appointed board, and they are all top-drawer people, is supposed to run things more efficiently,ai??? said Price, but TransLink lacks a revenue source.
Yet TransLink runs a transportation system Greater Vancouver can be proud of, said Price, noting that visitors are amazed at the breadth of the system and its efficiencies in a metropolitan area of only two million people.
Public criticisms to the Commission cited TransLinkai??i??s flawed fare zone structure, perceived poor service quality and levels, what was seen as ai???escalating and condoned fare evasionai??? and the unfair scale of fare hikes.
TransLink could go ahead and hike cash fares, as it needs no approval to raise individual fares by two per cent annually.
That means single-zone adult fares could go up to $2.75 from $2.50 in 2013, and three-zone fares likely will go up to $5.50 from $5.
FareSaver booklets will become an even better deal, as Crillyai??i??s ruling ensures the costs of those tickets wonai??i??t change.
TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis said ai???we move more than one million passengers each day through the transportation network.ai??? Jarvis said the Commissioner ai???confirmed we are well-runai??? but has refused the proposed fare increases.
Jarvis said TransLink will proceed with ai???an expeditious auditai??? to try to find the money the fare hikes would have provided.
Ai?? Copyright (c) The Province
