The free ride – or park, as it were – may soon be over for commuters in Metro Vancouver, as TransLink mulls a plan to implement fees at its complimentary park-and-ride lots.
The transportation authority says free lots could begin charging a minimum of $2 per day, and prices at the existing pay lots could be raised as it tackles a $472-million budget shortfall.
“We could be seeing $4 a lot on average over the region,” TransLink executive vice-president Bob Paddon told CTV News.
The company currently operates six free park-and-ride lots, and a seventh is under construction to facilitate the opening of the Evergreen Line in Langley.
Overcrowding is an issue at many of them, but that’s another problem Paddon said could be eased by the introduction of fees – a move that may encourage people to leave their cars at home altogether and utilize transit for their entire commute.
“You can get better mileage out of your transit pass,” Paddon said. “If you can get a free ride to the parking lot you can save the parking dollars, so it’s not trying to penalize anyone with it.”
But NDP transportation critic Harry Bains says the province should be working harder to help TransLink find a long-term funding source. so the transit provider isn’t forced to take a “piecemeal approach” to its budget.
“We will end up paying in social and economic costs, you know today’s commuters and in the future,” Bains said.
TransLink released a draft plan of its 2013 transit plan Monday, indicating that a number of planned service improvements would also be scrapped to deal with its shortfall.
Much-anticipated services like the Evergreen Line and the rapid bus service to Langley are on-the-way, however.
TransLink says it will be consulting with stakeholder sand the public before the draft plan is finalized by Nov. 1.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Maria Weisgarber
