As the general public has known for a while, TransLink is on the verge of going bankrupt. Due to the expansion and replacement of the bus fleet, the Golden Ears Bridge, and the Canada Line, TransLink has recently taken on a mass of new operational costs and new debt.
And that doesn’t even include any of the boatload of expenditures that will come on board if TransLink even attempts to fulfill the Provincial Transit Plan. The authority needs $150 million per year to continue existing services, and an additional $300 million per year if it hopes to complete desperately needed expansion.
What the general public might not remember is that TransLink has been on its toes since inception in 1999. Although it had an innovative new governance structure, giving the region control over our own transport network, the authority was consistently denied funding mechanisms by the province, leaving TransLink to essentially bear the brunt of the provincial downloading of services. The NDP government of yore refused to collect the original vehicle levy, and the Liberals of today cancelled the parking site tax and restructured the organization after it voted twice against the then-named RAV Line.
What we’ve been left with now is an authority with a bad reputation that provides half-assed service, which is required to fulfill huge expansion plans that can never be paid for because the Province has all the money.
And what does the Transport Minister say? The one who happily proclaimed that, due to his depoliticization of the organization, the authority could now make the tough decisions and move the region forward. The one who claimed that TransLink would now run smoothly with its new funding scheme of 1/3 property taxes, 1/3 gas taxes, and 1/3 fares.
When faced with the reality that his funding mechanism is not good enough and that his “professional board” is proposing new revenue opportunities to raise the money required to fulfill his $14 billion Transit Plan, of which the province is only funding a third, all our Transport Minister can say is, “Frankly, I’m not at all convinced they require additional sources.”
You’re not convinced?! You’re not convinced?! A $150 million dollar deficit is not enough to convince you? Your own people that you stuck onto the board are telling you that they need more money, and you are not convinced?
Minister Falcon, this is not a question of faith – it is a matter of fact. And if you “believe” for one minute that you can make such impactful decisions on the public based on your faith, think again.
This is your own fault. You forced RAV through the pipe, you denied TransLink any new funding streams, you restructured the organization and put in your own people.
Now stand up behind your decisions and support TransLink, because it all comes back to you. And trust me, the transit riders of 2009, squished like sardines on SkyTrain or standing the rain as bus after bus passes them by; they will not be as kind as they were a decade ago. You can expect far more than just a load of manure on your lawn.
Excellent analysis. Two additional points taking us back to the inception of Translink:
- beyond the failed vehicle levy, road pricing (wide open tolling) was also in the financial mix way back then. Why Falcon is supportive of pricing only one new project is also ridic
- the other part of the original deal was that the NDP government transfered Skytrain I debt off provincial books and onto the new structure.
That was the quid pro quo: local control in exchange for taking on the financial responsibility. Falcon could not handle it when local politicos like Derek Corrigan exposed the financial mess that RAV (Canada Line) would create under the Public Private Partnership arrangment.
kevin falcon needs to be pied so bad.
kevin falcon needs to be pied so bad.
^ Loving this comment
Kevin Falcon lives in a world where facts are what he dictates, and if you don’t like them then tough. Perhaps he thinks the more he ignores the problems with translink the more they’ll go away – sorry Kevin, you’ll have to deal sooner or later.
Some call him a “climate criminal” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIYd3wZ3n2I
Paul why don’t you say what you really think? You are such a champion for transit, wish you would get it that all the transit money is being put into pavement, along with money for all sorts of other things.
Hey changing the subject what about starting a movement to get people sending checks for $125.00 approximately to Tom Prendergast, voluntary vehicle levy, putting their money where their mouths are. I would, probably will at some point. They need the funding whether the government gives it to them or not.
Where in the world is health minister of British Columbia Kevin Falcon?
As of today August 14/2009 he’s still on an extended honeymoon, it’s been 3 weeks now.
Healthcare cuts have finally been announced after denial after denial. But not by Falcon or the Premier Campbell, he’s also on vacation. For the rest of us who can’t afford a vacation and have to work any days off just to meet bills, this is outrageous behaviour for a government. Why do they feel that it’s ok to do this to BC taxpayers?
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