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 "Unfortunately, this is a window into our reality if a solution to our outdated funding model is not implemented."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.