Potential Translink Service Cuts Brian, July 30, 2024July 30, 2024 Last week it was announced that without significant funding commitments from all levels of government, Translink will have to make significant service cuts. Translink is facing a $600 million dollar shortfall starting in 2026. Without necessary funding they would have to reduce Skytrain, Seabus and reduce or cancel the West Coast Express. Not to mention cutting bus service by as much as 60% across the region. Delta council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday (July 30) to discuss TransLink’s warning of potentially severe system-wide transit service cuts to balance the books. Mayor George Harvie confirmed to the Delta Optimist a meeting will be held at municipal hall at 5 p.m. Coun. Dylan Kruger calling for the urgent session to happen. The meeting is open to the public. A recent report for the TransLink Mayor’s Council outlined a series of potential massive cuts to make up for a big ongoing shortfall. The only way to avoid cuts is if senior government funding materializes. Without funding Delta will potentially lose the 310, 314, 391, 601, 602, 603, 604, 606, 614, 618, and 640 routes. Other areas that will be impacted would be South Surrey, White Rock, as well as the North Shore. Almost all routes operated by Port Coquitlam garage could be cancelled leading to the closure of the garage. Other routes that could be cut would be the majority of routes in Langley, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows and Poco. The West Coast Express would be maintained with reduced service in one option, canceled in the other. One thing not mentioned in the original press releases is with all of the service cuts 2 garages would shut down. Port Coquitlam and Surrey. Both garages would be redundant, as there would be minimal transit services running. Those routes could be moved to the Hamilton or Burnaby Garages. Besides two garages closing, several of the buses would be sold or scrapped. If the West Coast Express is fully cancelled, the trains would most likely be sold. There would also be hundreds of layoffs potentially even into the thousands. The results of all of that, would be years of inadequate transit in a major metropolitan area. The other major problem is without that funding and the potential of all these cuts, it could take years to rebuild the system to today’s service levels. For instance, they would sell off all the surplus buses. As well as the West Coast Express train equipment. Translink would need to reorder trains and buses before adding service. By terminating the contract with Alstom for rail operations and Via Rail for maintenance, Translink would have to sign new contracts. Laying off hundreds of bus drivers would mean hiring and training new drivers. If they close garages the land may get sold, and therefore they would need to build new garages as well. So what can Translink do to avoid major cuts to service without the government funding? Well it is somewhat simple but also very complicated. Mostly it will be a rob Peter to pay Paul situation. For example there are some routes with really low ridership that can be cut. Routes in Maple Ridge for example like the 748 and 749 could be cancelled. But to make up for that, the 701 to Maple Ridge East could be extended to 256th, to help with some of the service lost. Also the 745 and 746 could be slightly modified to cover some of the 748 trips. The 701 trips that operate to Mission could have a couple of stops built on Lougheed highway. It doesn’t make up for the lost service but it could help. Also some of the local service in Pitt Meadows could be cancelled or changed so instead of two routes running throughout the town, 1 route could operate less often (hourly), only serving the main spots areas. Those routes would connect to the 701 and 595 routes. The 719 and 722 could essentially merge into one route, that interlines with a revised 743 and 744 service. In my opinion those two routes could also merge into one route that serves only the busiest spots of the combined route. Both new routes can operate hourly. In this situation I would say that the 743 and 744 that currently take 25 or so minutes in each direction, could be modified to maybe take 30-35 minutes as a combined single route. That route could then interline at Meadowtown with the revised Pitt Meadows local service that could take 20-25 minutes. This way Translink would only need 2 buses for the service. The interlined service would be a two hour round trip from Haney Place Mall. Other changes could come in the Tri-Cities region of Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam. For instance the 156 and 157 both travel from one skytrain station to the next one. Braid to Lougheed for the 156 and the 157 travels Lougheed to Burquitlam. The 156 also stops at Burquitlam station so in my opinion the two routes could merge eliminating some duplication in service. Changing them also allows for removing some service in areas that are not overly busy stretches. That again would free up some buses and make the routing of the new route a little better overall. The 160 is a route that has had much lower ridership over the years. Well simple fix would be to cancel it completely however it does serve a purpose as a local service in Burnaby along Hastings. To improve tis route, it could operate only from Port Moody to Kootenay Loop. The routing from Port Coquitlam station to Port Moody is also serviced by other routes in the area. The 160 stops at all stations from Lafarge Lake-Douglas station to Port Moody station. At Coquitlam station there are several buses operating into Port Coquitlam, so shortening the 160 makes a lot of sense. Reducing frequency could also happen, if they modified the 129 service. It currently operates from Holden station to Patterson station. Modifying that route to service more of Hastings could allow the 160 to reduce service to every half hour. I know these suggestions are not ideal but something needs to happen even in 2025 if they want to try to keep service levels from being cut horribly in 2026. Other ideas for funding is to add a gas tax to the entire province. Currently the gas tax is only in the areas Translink serves. There is even a possibility of adding a congestion charge to vehicles that go into downtown Vancouver. So all the vehicles that cross Main Street from the east and Burrard in the west from Kits area, North of Broadway into downtown and crosses over the Lions Gate Bridge into downtown. All those vehicles would be subject to a small congestion fee of say $2 a trip. Taxis and emergency vehicles would be exempt. All the additional funding would easily help Translink. If a person lives inside those boundaries they could also be exempt from paying the charge. Another way to address the transit funding is a levy on developers. Possibly a clause that if a developer is planning a development of more that a certain number of units, that they help to pay for transit upgrades in the area. It could be just small things like funding construction of bus stops in the area, with good shelters. Developments similar to the one at Lougheed or Brentwood, paying for a redeveloped bus loop, or new entrances to the skytrain station. This way if developers are helping to fund transit, it becomes a selling feature for them. For instance if I were the developer at Lougheed, I would build up around the station, create a new way into the station and redevelop the bus loop. I would build it similar to the way it is built now at Union Station in Toronto. Have the buses essentially coming inside the building for added security and protection from weather. I would also have retail in the bus terminal. Walkways throughout the development to get into the condo buildings would be a part of the redevelopment. The way the path is designed in Toronto is a lot of buildings are connected by retail below ground. Developers could design similarly to that in the Vancouver area, and incorporate transit into the developments. My marketing would be that you can walk to the skytrain or a bus without having to go outside. Get to every amenity you would need in the area, without having to drive and great transit onsite. Things like this would be ideal for additional funding for transit, allowing for service growth and not service reductions. However, if I were in charge of planning at Translink I would still look at making changes to lower performing routes to both boost ridership and free up buses. Shifting the freed up buses to busier or over crowded routes. More to come on this as I find out more information. Related BC