Transit service cuts could lead to 200 more hours stuck in traffic a year: report

A bus in Metro Vancouver.

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -

A massive deficit that TransLink says is threatening Metro Vancouver’s transit system was at the top of the agenda as local mayors gathered Thursday morning.

A new report on how potential service cuts could impact the economy was presented at the TransLink Mayors' Council meeting.

TransLink says it’s facing a funding gap of $600 million and if it doesn’t get a cash infusion from the province or federal government by the spring of 2025, it will have to make service cuts.

The potential cuts would eliminate upwards of 50 per cent of bus service, 30 per cent to SkyTrain and SeaBus, and potentially all of the West Coast Express.

Areas with low ridership, including Langley, White Rock, South Delta, and most of the North Shore, would be left with little to no transit.

However, the impacts of a service reduction would be felt far beyond just transit users themselves, according to an independent assessment commissioned by TransLink and conducted by InterVISTAS.

According to the report, a cut to transit services would have immediate and lasting impacts to household affordability.

It suggests that households in Metro Vancouver could face up to $1,000 a year in increased costs.

Those include costs related to increased vehicle ownership and potential increase in costs associated with freight and truck congestion.

“A comment you sometimes hear is, ‘Well, I don't use transit, or maybe I use transit very rarely, so if there was significant reductions to transit service, I wouldn’t be impacted.’ And clearly, what this report shows is that everyone will be impacted,” said Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad Westd, chair of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation.

The review suggests that an additional 21,000 vehicles would end up on the road.

As a result, the number of collisions are also expected to increase, adding an estimated cost of more than $55 million per year.

The report also concludes that congestion on Metro Vancouver roads would increase up to 20 per cent. The average household would face an additional 200+ hours in congestion annually, according to the findings.

A drop in transit is also expected to slow economic growth and erode Metro Vancouver’s unique competitive advantage in a global market for talent.

With the provincial election now just weeks away, Metro Vancouver mayors, business leaders and community groups made their pitch for increased public transit funding under B.C.'s next government, and asked the public to do the same.

The BC Conservatives are pointing fingers at the NDP government and TransLink for mismanaging money.

"We will bring some money to the table for the short term, we need to do a complete audit of what has been going on with TransLink, why these issues are there. TransLink currently has record ridership and yet they are running these massive deficits,” said BC Conservative Leader John Rustad in July.

“We will continue to support transit, we’ll continue to support the expansion of transit for our growing province, and that's the commitment to the TransLink mayors, as well as all British Columbians that rely on transit,” said BC NDP Leader David Eby on Thursday.

In June, TransLink said an outside consulting company reviewed its books, helping to cut $90 million from its budget by eliminating jobs, hiring fewer third-party contractors, and increasing fare evasion enforcement, among other things

"What we have here isn't financial management, this is a problem that's being faced internationally by hundreds of transit agencies struggling with a funding formula that quite frankly the pandemic broke,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn back in the summer.

In July, the federal government renewed funding that will give TransLink more than $825 million over the next five years.

However, the transit provider says none of that goes to operational costs, making no dent in the massive deficit.

Thursday’s report will highlight how these potential service cuts could impact our economy. Quinn says the goal is not to cause alarm, but paint a clear picture of the challenges the provider is facing.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ben Nesbit and Ian Holliday