TransLink's Mayors' Council Calls on Voters to Help 'Save Transit'
Metro Vancouver residents can visit the Access for Everyone website, enter their name, postal code, and email, and a letter will be sent to their local candidates and provincial party leaders urging them to invest in public transit and avoid cuts to services.
TransLink currently faces a structural deficit of over $600 million and with no new funding committed to date by government, TransLink is preparing to make significant cuts to service that will have catastrophic effects throughout the region if new funding is not committed.
Photo: TransLink
3 min to read
The TransLink Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation and various community and business organizations are launching a letter-writing campaign aimed at the main political parties running in the October 19 provincial election.
“The transit funding model is broken, and we are facing drastic cuts to service that will devastate our region if new funding is not identified,” said Mayor Brad West, Chair of the Mayors’ Council. “That is why we are asking the public to reach out to their local candidates and tell them to do the right thing and save transit in Metro Vancouver.”
Ad Loading...
Transit Needed in Vancouver
Metro Vancouver residents can visit the Access for Everyone website, enter their name, postal code, and email, and a letter will be sent to their local candidates and provincial party leaders urging them to invest in public transit and avoid cuts to services.
A new survey shows that over 70% of Metro Vancouver residents believe transit is an important issue in the upcoming provincial election.
The poll, commissioned by the Mayors’ Council in August 2024, also confirms residents believe the provincial government has the greatest responsibility among all levels of government to fund transit, while 84% of respondents agree that investing in public transit is essential to keep up with Metro Vancouver’s growing population.
Facing Funding Issues
TransLink currently faces a structural deficit of over $600 million and with no new funding committed to date by government, TransLink is preparing to make significant cuts to service that will have catastrophic effects throughout the region if new funding is not committed.
Cuts include potentially shutting down all bus service after 8 p.m.; cutting most bus service in communities such as Langley, the North Shore, Maple Ridge, and Delta; and reducing SkyTrain service by 30%.
Ad Loading...
Despite TransLink making significant cost cutting measures, it is still not nearly enough to address the deficit.
In the survey, 71% of respondents were concerned about these potential cuts, including 31% who are “very concerned.”
Seventy-two percent of respondents would be somewhat or very upset if the provincial government failed to save transit.
Recently, the Mayors’ Council sent an open letter to B.C. political party leaders calling for them to commit to immediate funding for TransLink post-election in order to roll out the first phase of the Access for Everyone transit expansion plan starting in April 2025
Photo: TransLink
Building on the Call for Funding
Recently, the Mayors’ Council sent an open letter to B.C. political party leaders calling for them to commit to immediate funding for TransLink post-election in order to roll out the first phase of the Access for Everyone transit expansion plan starting in April 2025, and to create a permanent $3.4-billion-per-year transit fund indexed to population growth and inflation.
The Access for Everyone Plan includes doubling bus service over the next decade, building nine new bus rapid transit lines, investing in vital new projects such as extending SkyTrain to UBC, and improving the region's major road network.
Ad Loading...
Organizations from around the region have joined the Mayors’ Council in calling for transit investment, emphasizing how important transit is to the region.
Customers traveling between Redlands and Los Angeles can now tap their preferred payment method, including a credit or debit card, mobile wallet, or wearable device, at station validators before boarding and again while exiting.
The budget covers July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, a period when pandemic emergency funds run out, the District faces a structural deficit of $375 million, and a regional transit funding measure may appear on the November ballot.
The St. Louis transit agency will begin the phased rollout of gated station access and integrated fare technology to improve security and the customer experience.
As millions of fans prepare to descend on host cities, transit leaders are turning a month-long global event into a proving ground for the future of customer experience, mobility, and crowd management.
In this edition of METROspectives, Joshua Schank discusses lessons from launching LA Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation, the challenges of advancing new mobility technologies, and much more.
Transit leaders need to know what needs fixing, where to look, who is responsible, when work is completed, and what it costs without having to chase information across disconnected systems.
The company is investing more than $55 million to acquire and improve the property and will employ approximately 100 people at this site once it is operational.
