THE TransLink Mayors’ Council on Wednesday welcomed the Government of B.C.’s announcement of new legislation to encourage the development of housing adjacent to rapid transit and other public transit hubs, noting that there is an urgent need for additional provincial and federal investments in new transit services to ensure transit-oriented development is successful.

“The fact is, you can’t have transit-oriented development without transit, and TransLink’s current system is unable to keep up with growing public demand for services across this region,” said Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, Chair of the Mayors’ Council.

“With transit in Metro Vancouver currently frozen at 2019 levels, we need to see both the provincial and federal governments commit funding to dramatically expand public transit service. This legislation represents one of the most significant changes to land use and zoning policy that we’ve ever seen in this province, but it won’t succeed unless our three levels of government work together to deliver better transit in this region.”

“Encouraging the development of multi-family housing next to frequent transit service has been a successful strategy in Metro Vancouver for decades, and TransLink’s new Access for Everyone plan is designed to bring more transit service to every community in the region so we can unlock opportunities to build more affordable housing,” said Mayor Linda Buchanan of the City of North Vancouver.

“This new legislation will enable significant increases in density and remove or dramatically reduce requirements for parking spaces in new developments. If these residents aren’t going to be using cars, we must ensure transit is accessible and frequent enough that they can rely on the system to get around.”