TransLink proposes tolls on all Metro bridges
 

Quoted from Vancouver Sun:

METRO VANCOUVER — TransLink is proposing to put tolls on all Metro Vancouver bridges and charge drivers for using the roads as part of a scheme to raise $450 million in new revenue.

Along with these so-called "road-pricing options," TransLink is considering a vehicle levy averaging $122 per vehicle per year.

It's the latest round in a long battle between the regional transportation authority and the provincial government over where TransLink will find much-needed revenue increases.

Without new revenue, TransLink is projected to go into deficit by 2011, as it subsidizes the private operators of the Canada Line and the Golden Ears Bridge for four to five years until they reach projected ridership figures.

TransLink says it needs an extra $150 million a year just to keep its current operations going.

With $300 million a year, it says it could modestly expand the public transportation system, including building the long-promised Evergreen rapid transit line from Burnaby to Coquitlam.

With $450 million more a year, it could finance all the major items on its wish list, including rapid transit lines, rail corridors and a greatly expanded bus system. With no additional money, TransLink says it will have to make huge transit service cuts as its expenses rise.

PROPOSAL NEEDS APPROVAL FROM PROVINCE, MUNICIPALITIES

TransLink CEO Tom Prendergast said he was waiting to hear whether the province will provide legislative authority for the road-pricing options, which could see long-haul drivers and gas guzzlers paying more for using the road than drivers on short trips in fuel-efficient cars.

The proposed charges, which would increase the cost of driving in Metro Vancouver, were unanimously supported by the TransLink board but still need approval from the province and the regional mayors' council.

"At the end of the day we have to come up with the funding somewhere," Prendergast said. "It's more than about transit. It's about changing some behaviours. You drive down Hastings, Lougheed, Kingsway ... they're all crowded. The days of the free ride for automobiles worldwide is coming to an end."

The plan must be approved by the province and regional transportation commissioner in August before going to the regional mayors' council in October.

Several earlier attempts to impose a vehicle levy — politically a hot potato — have been dropped.

TransLink and Metro Vancouver have flirted with the notion of tolls, only to be flatly rejected by the provincial government.

Now TransLink is bringing back some of the most controversial options. "It's an issue of livability in the region at large," Prendergast said.

RECOMMENDATION 'UNSUPPORTABLE'

But at least two Metro Vancouver mayors say the recommendations — particularly the vehicle levy — will hurt those who have little means of viable transport: residents south of the Fraser.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said road pricing could work as long as it's done with a policy in place and plans to build up the transit system. Right now, there aren't enough buses to support Surrey residents, she said, let alone another million people moving into the region by 2040.

"The vehicle levy, is for me, unsupportable," she said. "There's no way I can go out to our residents and say, 'You're not going to get anything, but pay an additional property tax and a vehicle levy. You might get a bus or two.'"

Prendergast acknowledges transit service is lacking south of the Fraser. TransLink is working with municipalities to add new routes and increase population density along transportation corridors, but needs money to do so.

TransLink has the ability to collect $275 million extra a year by way of property tax increases, the vehicle levy, boosting gas taxes by three cents a litre, imposing a higher parking tax, and raising fares by seven per cent in 2016.

The road-pricing options would bring the total revenue increase to $450 million, enough to fund the Evergreen Line, upgrade existing SkyTrain stations, buy more buses, build new rail corridors, provide optimum maintenance for regional roads.

But Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said that is just another way for the province to dump costs on municipalities.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Tra...tory.html:mad:

No wonder the province is investigating Translink to see if we're getting our value for our money.

We are getting fucked!

FU translink

What a fucken joke, maybe if they put a good transit system in surrey and langley but we get
Fucked out here

We are paying someone a million dollar a year for his salary, and this is what his company comes up?

Yeah and they probably all drive expensive cars like ferrari's and lambos. That or get driven around in limo's so they dont know how shitty our public transportation is.

Oh com'on.... it's not like the province don't know public transit systems failed at many of their wishes.:/

No.3 rd bus lane for example... or the fast ferries.... or the West coast express that goes from Vancouver to Mission.... Mission is a place out of no where why not a place like harrision of something as a stop?.... and it's not like they're giving us free rides for our cars to the raceway... it seems like they start building it and ran out of funds so they stopped at mission as a mission failed.... :/

so whats the point of paying property tax then?

is translink a public corporation? do they have to do full disclosure? i bet even if they do, if u look at the numbers, any one of the "chiefs" probably has a very decent salary with very decent raises every year.

no shit translink board would vote in favour of it, they get a hefty raise.

first let's deal with our shitty translink, where we are the butt of all jokes in Canada. Too hot? busses overheat and break down. Getting cold? busses break down or become unoperatable. Most other places, transportation doesn't break down like this. And what? each year we get charged more for improvements?

I know people will jump in on this and say busses and shit aren't the only things they're responsible for, but honestly they need them to step up and fix their half assed products first.

I think there was an article about their salaries yesterday, lots of bonus incentives and definitely not making chump change.

The guy says that the days of driving for free is coming to an end? I didn't know gas and taxes from it and my insurance was comp'd. I thought Translink was a public company I don't get how they have so much pull from the government.

If they try and do this, i will KILL translink

+1

Last winter was horrible. Busses can't move for shit. Especially at sfu man. EVERY winter the fucking buses have trouble going up and down the fucking mountain. You would think that they would do something about that by now. Idiots. I fucking hated getting stuck up there.

Yay for shitty buses that never arrive according to THEIR schedule and skytrains and buses that break down constantly.
Maybe if TransLink didn't suck so much people would consider using it.
The only people on there are like students, old people, and bums; with a few exceptions of course.
Hot weather + old people + bums does NOT make public transportation anymore appealing. It's like a smelly ass sauna filled with bacteria.

Bullshit. They ALREADY plan to give themselves a payraise, so this is just a way to put that cash in their pockets. Fucking greedy assholes. IMPROVE the service instead of trying to buy that third Escalade.

:werd: 1/4 of the money will actually go to buses/skytrain/transportation. The rest will go into their pockets :rolleyes:

i think we should each write a Fuck You letter to translink CEO.

why is that the #1 answer in crunch time is: raise prices, increase taxes.

why not look at their self first , and see what they can cut down, and if no cuts are available, i'm sure the public will not mind. why is this so hard?

because, u think they will vote to take a pay cut?

if translink is truly a public company, then they have to be somewhat transparent and do full disclosure of all their assets and liabilities. this should also include the payroll.

im all for giving the bus drivers the pay they deserve. but dang, these exec officers, u sit in the role for a few years, get let go or change position, and u are given a nice severance pay.

i think translink is decent in terms of bus breaking down and whatnot..

they have many new buses on their fleet..okay it sucks that buses become imoperable when there's a ft of snow..but how many days out of the year does that happen in vancouver? no AC on the bus, yeah that sucks, but how often is it that hot? 2-3 weeks of the year? I rather get more bus services.

they need more FREQUENT bus service..that's their major issue right now.

Even in Vancouver there's still many pass-ups cause less than 25% of the buses offer under 10min service. Not to mention matters are way worse in the suburbs. It totally sucks watiting 30min on a cold rainy night for the next bus b/c the one that just passed by was full.

fuck translink

So stupid, make better use of the money available. If you don't have enough money to operate what you have scale back, thats what I'd have to do if I can't afford my lifestyle. Don't have enough money to expand transit? Don't expand it, save up until you can afford it.

These stupid fucking useless good for nothing cocksuckers rape and pillage us until we have absolutley nothing left.

I think the most anoying thing is if we were Montreal or Toronto the Federal Government would just buck up and pay for everything at a cost to all Canadians. Since we live in a place with pretty much no relevence as far as federal politics go we get fuck all.

To be fair, it's just over half a million, plus bonuses... BUT, Translink needs salaries to be competitive with the private sector to get good talent. A good CEO can do a lot for a company. Now, we can debate all you want if we have a good CEO running Translink. I'm inclined to say no, but then again, I don't know what their books and day to day ops look like to comment more on it.

Yea, but do they get the talent? Not really

But the better question is, how do u get into one of the top positions? I won't mind a pay raise if I work for Translink.