Metro Vancouver mayors have voted in favour of a two cents per litre gas tax hike to fund regional transit projects and service improvements, setting the stage for a price jump at the pumps next spring.
The mayors approved TransLink's plan to fund the long-awaited Evergreen Line as well as major road improvements, cycling infrastructure and a new rapid bus service on Highway 1 from Langley to Burnaby on Friday.
It will also fund SkyTrain station and SeaBus improvements, and provide an additional 425,000 hours of annual bus service.
The gas tax hike is expected to generate $32-45 million annually to fund the projects, which TransLink estimates will cost about $70 million per year.
To pay for the rest, TransLink's proposal includes tentative plans for a time-limited property tax increase amounting to an estimated $23 annually for average households. Unless an alternative funding source is approved, the increase will take effect in 2013.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, one of 22 representatives on the Mayor's Council on Regional Transportation, admitted the plans were not ideal but said the region is stuck "playing catch up" for transit infrastructure.
"This should have been done, frankly, years ago," Robertson said. "We are far behind cities that we compete with globally right now… We see less than 25 per cent of our residents are within 10 minutes of good transit service."
Robertson, along with the mayors of Surrey, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Langley, West Vancouver and District of North Vancouver issued a joint statement earlier this week pledging their support for the plan.
The seven mayors represent 70 per cent of the population of Metro Vancouver, and their weighted votes carry enough sway to approve proposals even without the support of the other 15 representatives on the council.
The gas tax increase still requires legislation, but Premier Christy Clark said Friday that the province is ready to back the mayors' decision.
"Our government is going to enable whatever [the mayors] decide," Clark said. "It is their choice."
Clark added that it is high time Metro Vancouver moved forward with the long-promised Evergreen Line, which is expected to cost $1.4 billion and has been in discussion since the 1980s.
"It's not just about the increase in the gas tax, it's about bringing rapid transit to a community that's been promised it for over 20 years," she said. "Let's get on with it for heaven's sake."
TransLink already collects a 15 cents per litre gas tax.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber
