Plans by the B.C. Greens to invest in more public transit inside and outside the Lower Mainland is drawing a range of reactions, with the B.C. NDP directing its response at the Conservative Party of B.C. under Leader John Rustad.
The proposal also points to the complexities of who funds and delivers transit in different parts of the province.
B.C. Greens last week announced a proposal to make public transit (including SkyTrain) free in B.C. to help relieve "financial strain on families, create more livable, connected communities and reduce the province's carbon footprint." The party also plans to double the number of city buses within four years, then triple them within eight years and create hourly service on key regional routes.
"Transportation affects every aspect of our lives, where we live, how we connect with others, and whether we can access opportunities,” she said. "Fast, frequent and free transit will shift how people move, reduce household costs, and enable a giant leap forward on meeting our climate goals.”
Furstenau has long called for improvements in public transit outside of Metro Vancouver in light of safety concerns such as the infamous Highway of Tears and limited bus service in communities beyond Hope. She refers to such gap as "transit deserts."
TransLink's Mayors' Council representing 21 mayors in Metro Vancouver, the Chief of the Tsawwassen First Nation and the elected representative of Electoral Area “A” welcomed the Greens' proposal.
"Transit is vital to the health of our communities, environment and economy," it said on social media. "We need MORE transit, not cuts to transit."
TransLink's official statement came in response to a call for more transit funding as the authority managing transit in Metro Vancouver finds itself amidst discussions about potential service cuts.
TransLink faces a funding gap of about $600 million each year starting in 2026 to main current levels of transit. A staff report published in late July warned of overall reductions in transit in the range of 45 to 50 per cent "impacting all areas of TransLink’s mandate" unless responsible authorities address the organization's "structural deficit."
While TransLink's statement calls for "a new sustainable funding model to close that gap and avoid potential service cuts," it also points out that transit revenue is TransLink's single largest funding resource to operate the system.
"In 2025, TransLink projects to earn $685 million in fare revenues. If transit were made free, those lost revenues would have to be paid for somehow," it reads.
The Greens' proposal presented last week does not directly address TransLink's needs. Its focus was mostly on buses operated by B.C. Transit, the provider responsible for providing transit outside of the TransLink area. B.C. Greens propose to spend an additional $720 million on top of existing funding in the first year of their plan, then escalate that additional spending by 15 per cent each year.
Funding would come from re-allocating existing funds ear-marked for transportation, with additional funding coming from the provincial budget at-large and anticipated savings from improved efficiency.
Katie Reid, platform and policy lead with the B.C. Greens, also said that the party would set up an all-party committee to review transit funding.
"It's incredibly unclear," she said. "The revenue is unclear, the expenditure is unclear, the different agencies are unclear, the differences between TransLink and (B.C.) Transit funding is unclear and I don't think that is how we can make good and sustainable transportation decisions."
B.C.'s Minister of Transportation Rob Fleming meanwhile offered this response through a statement from his ministry.
“Making transit more affordable and expanding service is a huge priority for Premier (David) Eby," Fleming said. "That’s why we have made transit free for kids 12 and under and have taken action to keep fares low."
He added that government is building the new Surrey-Langley Skytrain and the Broadway Subway and adding new rapid bus routes on highways. .
("We're) expanding bus service across B.C."
“B.C. Transit and TransLink were the first systems in North America to recover from the pandemic because of our support," Fleming. "Now John Rustad is proposing cuts that puts this all at risk. It would mean less services and hikes to fares. We need to keep taking action to strengthen both our transit system and our highway infrastructure, to help people with cost, tackle climate change, and so that people can keep getting to where they need to go.”
Rustad, meanwhile, has criticized the B.C. NDP for mismanaging various projects including the new Surrey-Langley Skytrain and the Broadway Subway, with both projects over budget and behind schedule.
The party has also called for "immediate action" to "ensure a sustainable and reliable transit system" for Metro Vancouver, especially Surrey.
The party's five-point plan for TransLink calls for an immediate audit, and a review of overcrowded bus routes, starting with Surrey, home to the five most overcrowded routes in the system.
It also pledges adding two years of stop-gap funding to develop a 'back-on-track' plan, speeding up the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project, and working with the federal government to secure a "fair share" of federal transit funding.
