TransLink warns bus service could be cut by half due to budget shortfall
A new troubling report from TransLink is highlighting the need for more funding.
The Metro Vancouver transit authority says hundreds of bus routes and thousands of SkyTrain trips are at risk of being cut at the end of 2025 without more money.
The agency is seeking approximately $600 million in annual reporting costs to avoid service cuts and is asking all levels of government to step in.
According to the report to the regional Mayors’ Council, bus services could be cut in half, SkyTrain and SeaBus trips reduced by one-third, and the West Coast Express commuter service could be eliminated entirely.
Various routes would also be impacted, particularly those with lower ridership. Langley, White Rock, South Delta, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, and much of the North Shore would see almost no transit services operating.
"These cuts would be devastating to the region, and we’re doing everything we can to stop them from happening," TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn said in a statement. "Unfortunately, this is a window into our reality if a solution to our outdated funding model is not implemented."
The agency says that once service is cut, it would take at least a decade to return transit services, as well as ridership, to current levels.
“We’re trying to be realistic with folks that you know, in 18 months we run out of money, we fall off a fiscal cliff,” TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn told reporters Thursday.
BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad pointed the finger at both the BC NDP and TransLink, accusing the agency of mismanaging money.
"We will bring some money to the table for the short-term to help us bridge through,” he told CTV News.
“We need to do a complete audit of what has been going on with TransLink,” Rustad continued.
"Translink currently has record ridership and yet they are running these massive deficits," he added.
Quinn refuted claims of money mismanagement, citing the findings of an independent review conducted by a business management consultant into TransLink's finances earlier this year.
"What we have here isn't financial mismanagement, 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,” Quinn said.
The hope is for more funding by spring of 2025 to avoid disruptions to service.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.5294232.1725716403!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
They were due to leave for their dream cruise in May. Three months on they’re still stuck at the departure port
It was the years-long cruise that was supposed to set sail, but saw its departure postponed… postponed… and postponed again.
Ontario's first domestic case of human rabies since 1967 confirmed in Brant County
An Ontario resident remains in hospital after testing positive for rabies.
Former NHLer and addict Brandon Reid's new goal is to help other beat addiction
Brandon Reid was a promising NHLer for the Vancouver Canucks, but his struggles with addiction almost killed him. He now trains other addicts as they fight to stay sober.
4-year-old drowns in backyard pool on Montreal's South Shore
The lifeless body of a child was discovered in a residential swimming pool in Longueuil, on Montreal's South Shore, late on Friday afternoon.
Intruder breaks into Richmond daycare
It was a parent’s worst nightmare early Friday morning at a Richmond daycare, when an intruder broke into the centre.
Trudeau insists he's staying on as Liberal leader. But what if he changes his mind?
The Liberal caucus is set to meet in Nanaimo, B.C., next week for a retreat ahead of the fall parliamentary sitting. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists he will lead his party into the next election despite polls citing his unpopularity among Canadians. Here's a look at what would happen if he decided to call it quits.
How to get a whole city to stop lawn watering? Experts say praise over punishment
For almost two weeks, a city of 1.6 million people has been told once again to stop watering lawns, take three-minute showers, hold off on laundry and dishes, and let the yellow in their toilets mellow.
Ridley Scott rebuilds Rome for 'Gladiator II'
Scott, Hollywood's perpetual rolling stone even at age 86, may be preparing to unveil 'Gladiator II,' one of his biggest epics yet, but at the moment he's got the Bee Gees on the brain. Scott is developing a biopic on the Gibb brothers. On a recent Zoom call from his office in Los Angeles, he was surrounded by meticulously plotted storyboards.
Two astronauts are left behind in space as Boeing's troubled capsule returns to Earth empty
Boeing's first astronaut mission ended Friday night with an empty capsule landing and two test pilots still in space, left behind until next year because NASA judged their return too risky.