THE TransLink Mayors’ Council on Wednesday launched a new campaign in partnership with community leaders, calling on residents of Metro Vancouver to ask governments to fund urgent transit expansion in the region.
New advertisements at SkyTrain stations, bus stops and on social media provide a link where residents can easily send a letter to their local MLAs, MPs, ministers of finance and ministers responsible for infrastructure funding, simply by entering their email and postal code.
The letter reads, in part: “As a Metro Vancouver resident, I’m concerned that our region doesn’t have enough public transit to serve our growing communities… If we don’t act now, thousands of people will be left behind by full buses every day and new housing will be left unserved… I urge you in your role as an elected official to ensure the necessary funding commitments are made – now – to protect public transit as an essential service and keep our economy and residents moving.”
Supporters of the campaign include the Surrey Board of Trade, HUB Cycling, Simon Fraser Student Society and the AMS Student Society of UBC, with additional organizations expected to join the campaign in the coming weeks.
Transit ridership in Metro Vancouver continues to rise, with post-pandemic ridership recovery in this region now at more than 90 per cent, surpassing all other major transit systems in Canada and the United States, including New York, Toronto, Montreal and Miami. Transit service levels have remained frozen since the beginning of the pandemic. Overcrowding on the system has now surpassed the previous records set in 2019 – when TransLink’s service was expanding every year, and with population growth half of what it is today – with more than a quarter of rush-hour trips in Vancouver and Surrey overcrowded and set to worsen four-to-five times by 2025 without additional service.
The Mayors’ Council has unanimously approved the initial phase of the Access for Everyone transit expansion plan, which TransLink is ready to start rolling out in mid-2024 if funding can be secured by April. It includes the finalizing of planning for three new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects, expansion of TransLink’s bus fleet and additional bus depot capacity, active transportation and road safety projects, and new bus service starting in September 2024 focused on the most critical off-peak overcrowding hotspots around the region.
Last week, TransLink launched the new R6 Rapid Bus service in Surrey, which is the final project from its previous expansion plan, the 10-Year Vision. As ridership surges across the region, no further expansion of transit service will occur until regional, provincial and federal governments commit funding for the new Access for Everyone plan.
With funding and partnership from the Province of BC, TransLink bounced back from the pandemic faster than any other big city transit system in North America. But Metro Vancouver now needs to launch forward. This campaign is designed to help residents tell the federal government it’s time for them to step up, and to let the BC Government know the region needs their continued support to keep expanding its transit system.
The public is encouraged to visit https://accessforeveryone.ca/
Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, Chair of the TransLink Mayors’ Council, said: “Metro Vancouver’s transit services are essentially frozen at 2019 levels even as the region’s population has grown by almost 200,000 between 2019 and 2023. With the Access for Everyone plan we can deliver new Bus Rapid Transit lines and a doubling of bus service to support growth, affordability and climate action, with benefits for everyone in the region. The Mayors’ Council has appreciated its strong partnership with the Government of BC to help TransLink recover from the pandemic but it is up to all three levels of government to finalize a funding strategy for future transit expansion, and we must do so now.”
Rob Fleming, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, said: “Together, we have tackled the challenge of the pandemic to transit funding and ridership recovery better than anywhere in North America. But as Metro Vancouver grows we are seeing a transit system that is struggling to meet demand. The Province has been a strong funding partner with TransLink and looks forward to being a part of the next chapter of transit solutions that delivers expanded, sustainable service in the region based on cooperation between all levels of government.”
