TransLink is citing lower-than-expected revenues for its decision to scrap a number of planned service improvements, including 306,000 additional bus hours.

The regional transit provider says it’s facing a $472-million budget shortfall over the next three years due to weak revenues from taxes, fares and tolls, as well as the deferred sale of surplus real estate.

Those disappointing numbers have forced the company to drop several planned expansions, including an extension of the King George Boulevard B-Line service in White Rock and additional SeaBus sailings.

“It’s going to be disappointing to a lot of our customers,” TransLink executive vice-president Bob Paddon acknowledged. “We’ve got a lot of people that are watching buses drive by.”

SkyTrain trips on the Millenium and Expo lines are also going to be reduced on weekends between 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m., and the company said it may introduce or increase rates at park-and-ride lots.

The changes were unveiled Monday in TransLink’s 2013 draft transit plan, which also assured that other projects, including the much-anticipated Evergreen Line, will move forward.

The rapid bus service along Highway 1 over the Port Mann Bridge has also been salvaged, TransLink said, though it will now operate every 30 minutes during off-peak periods instead of every 10 minutes.

The company is boasting that 109,000 new transit service hours will still be added as well -- though some of those were implemented in April, and certain areas will still see fewer buses as resources are shifted to busier regions.

“Depending on the route you’re on, you’ll see a change in the frequency. So in some cases it may go up, in other cases it may go down,” Paddon said.

TransLink says its budget shortfall is due in part to the company receiving $38 million less than anticipated from Golden Ears Bridge tolls, $100 million less from bus fares and $144 less from fuel tax revenue.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said the company’s funding struggles underline the need to find a sustainable revenue stream for transit.

“If we want expanded services there has to be a mechanism in place to pay for that infrastructure,” Watts said. “That’s where we need to get to, otherwise we’re going to keep doing this over and over and over again.”

Part of the 2013 plan is based on a two-year property tax hike that will kick in next year unless an alternate source is found.

TransLink says it will consult with the public before its draft plan is finalized by Nov. 1.

With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Maria Weisgarber