TransLink eyes higher taxes, fares to address cash crunch

TransLink is warning the public to be prepared for increased taxes or deep cuts to transit service as it grapples with a huge cash crunch.

CEO Tom Prendergast says the transit authority needs to raise an additional $150 million a year just to maintain the existing public transit system in Metro Vancouver. An additional $300 million would see expansion to the existing system.

Prendergast said Metro Vancouver's regional mayors' council has to choose from three options that will shape the region's public transit system over the next 10 years.

The first, where the transit authority gets no new funding, would mean a 40 per cent cut to bus service.

The second option is to maintain bus service at 2009 levels through increased fuel and parking taxes, as well as higher transit fares.

The third option is an expansion plan that would cost an additional $450-million per year, which TransLink can't fund through existing taxes and fare sources.

The transit authority is looking to generate the additional funding needed through road user fees, a vehicle levy, tolls on bridges, increased fuel and parking taxes, and increased transit fares.

That plan would deliver hundreds of new buses, a third SeaBus, expansion of the existing Millennium and Expo SkyTrain lines, as well as construction of the long-awaited Evergreen rapid transit line to Burnaby and Coquitlam.

TransLink has considered several new taxes on Metro Vancouver residents to raise revenue in the past, including parking taxes and vehicle levies, but all met a great deal of public resistance.

Metro Vancouver mayors have until Oct. 31 to make a decision.

TransLink, which is also known as the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, manages regional roads and public transit across the Lower Mainland.