The province announced a major cash injection for Metro Vancouver transit on Thursday, but it appears to be previously announced funding and falls millions of dollars short of what mayors were hoping for.

Peter Fassbender, the minister responsible for TransLink, said the province was “increasing” its funding to $246 million to cover a third of the cost of the first phase of the mayors' transportation plan: new buses, SkyTrain cars, and another SeaBus.

“The province of BC is increasing its commitment to the Metro region, recognizing how important transit is to the people who live here,” Fassbender said.

But almost immediately he was pilloried by mayors and the NDP, who said he and other provincial ministers had long ago promised to fund a third of the entire 10-year plan, not just the first phase.

“They had previously committed to one third of the entire mayor’s plan. Now they announced one third of ten per cent of the mayors plan. The commitment’s become less than it was previously,” said New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote.

The NDP’s David Eby said he was “astounded” at the claim that the government was increasing its funding, pointing to a debate in the legislature in April where Fassbender had promised to fund “33 and a third per cent” of the plan.

The premier was also quoted throughout the transit plebiscite as being “in for our one-third, that’s what we’ve got, and we’ve committed to it.”

“We’re going backwards, not forwards,” Eby said.

The three levels of government have been long sparring over how much to contribute to the $750-million-per-year plan, which also would bring in a Broadway subway line and Surrey LRT lines. The deal was one-third each, until the federal government under Justin Trudeau’s Liberals promised to fund half, leaving the cities to fund about 17 per cent.

That makes $370 million from the federal government, $246 million from the provincial government, and around $75 million from municipal governments, who say they can only afford to pay about 10 per cent because they don’t have access to more lucrative taxes.

There’s still more than $50 million left to raise each year from municipal coffers. The mayors proposed a series of measures to raise that cash:

  • A one-time fare increase of two per cent, to take effect in 2018
  • Selling TransLink surplus properties
  • Adding a Regional Development Cost Charge for Transit
  • Average property tax increase of $3 per household across the region
  • Diverting a portion of the Gas Tax Fund to transit
  • Introducing regional mobility pricing by 2021
  • Land in kind from Vancouver and Surrey

“We’ve got a plan and we need to invest in that urgently,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson.

With the confusion around funding the mayors aren’t sure what to make of Fassbender’s announcement, and whether it allows them to start building the big-ticket items in the plan, such as the subway and LRT lines.

“We really, quite frankly, need something in writing,” said Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner.