TransLink approves ‘interim’ plan to increase bus service in 2024

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TransLink plans to increase service on 60 bus routes, extend overnight hours on 11 routes, increase peak-hour SkyTrain frequency and place additional cars on the West Coast Express this year as an “interim” measure in its capital rollout. of 10 years. plan.

The 2024 additions will be TransLink’s first increase in bus service since 2019, which were approved Thursday by a joint meeting of TransLink’s board of directors and mayoral council, and will be paid for with fare increases due in July , an increase in property taxes and Emergency infusions of funds from the province.

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However, CEO Kevin Quinn called the small increases short-term measures to alleviate overcrowding as “a stopgap to get us closer to our next investment plan.”

He added that the agency is still on track to “hit a fiscal cliff” by 2026 and “without additional funding, we will not have enough revenue to cover the cost of keeping the current system running, much less fund a much-needed expansion.”

Thursday’s joint meeting was the first for the mayoral council since it learned that its calls for more secure and continued operational funding from the federal government went unanswered in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2024 budget.

Mayoral Council Vice President Mike Hurley, mayor of Burnaby, said the federal government’s vague promises about future support are unhelpful: “You have to come to the table, you can’t just relegate all of these issues to municipalities.”

More immediately, Quinn said TransLink is struggling to cope with a population increase of 90,000 people in 2023 alone, double what the agency had planned, and more than half of the newcomers rely on public transportation for transportation. .

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The list of improvements for 2024, which will take effect in September, adds a three per cent increase in bus service, to begin addressing overcrowding south of the Fraser River and in rapid transit, as well as improving service outside of peak hours throughout the region. , according to Sarah Ross, vice president of transportation planning for TransLink.

Ross added that the 2024 plan will include an earlier start of SeaBus service to the North Shore and support late afternoon HandyDART service to “improve accessibility for those who cannot use the conventional system.”

“This plan also funds critical investments in bus fleets and facilities, with support from the British Columbia government, that will prepare us to deliver the access-for-all plan as soon as possible,” Ross said.

The plan includes the $300 million in capital funding committed by the province last week, the balance of the $479 million in emergency funding BC extended to TransLink last year.

Ross said fare increases, averaging 2.3 percent, taking effect July 1 will also help pay for the expansion, as well as a one percent increase in TransLink’s regional property tax. .

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