TransLink

They're also, you know, in terms of transit, like a bit of money for BC Transit, $40 million per year.

But in terms of TransLink, that has a big funding problem.

We'll figure it out with a long-term revenue model that doesn't raise costs for drivers and working with the federal government.

yeah this is where they could have done a big swing or on something as we were talking about earlier there's definitely a big let's get stuff built in this country energy at the moment that carney's tapping into very effectively and transit would be a nice easy one to go to just pick a couple ideas that have been kicked around forever, whether it's, you know, North Shore rapid transit line, a rail to the Western communities in Victoria, There's a bunch of options, like a supercharged regional rail that covers the entire lower mainland and promises to build that over the next 20 years or something.

[laughs] Yeah.

Last year [laughs] we had a pretty big controversy where there was a risk that 50% of transit service was gonna have to get cut because there was a big hole in TransLink's budget.

You know, among other things, they're really reliant on a gas tax to pay for their service, and, uh, people are buying less gas, surprise, surprise, because they're buying EVs.

And so what the province did is they filled in a gap, uh, temporarily.

They said, "We can cover about $100... 100 million a year for the next three years, but then we'll introduce a new revenue tool to, you know, sustain your funding in the future." Um, but what we've just heard in this campaign is that that revenue tool can't be a vehicle levy.

It really knocks off a potentially big candidate, and so we're worried about if we're gonna end up in that situation again, where there's a big hole in TransLink's budget.

So if there's no vehicle levy, what is this vehicle that we're going to use to fund transit? Mer.

[laughs] I'm really wondering that myself.

The announcements will play on his five concert dates at BC Place.

TransLink says its collaboration with the singer-songwriter is meant to bring a bit of unexpected joy to people as they're on their commutes, and advertising revenue will go to supporting transit service in Metro Vancouver.

Now, Bruno Mars is the first musician to take the mic on the SkyTrain, but he's certainly not the first celebrity to do it.

Hey Vancouver, it's Seth.

But unless I'm invited, I don't need to hear about it.

And unless you have a very good reason, don't be one of those people using their speakerphone in public.

Have fun tonight, by the way, and thanks for using TransLink.

That advice from back in 2018 when Vancouver-born comedian Seth Rogen delivered announcements on buses, trains, and platforms.

Well, let's, um...

Maybe we should switch to local government at this point.

Um, we're now in the final week, uh, final days of the municipal campaign.

Yeah.

While Mandel's, um, got a different, uh, different approach.

Well, no, just departure of Stewart and, um, and Brodie.

They are both longstanding pillars of metro government, TransLink, you name it.

Yeah.

Well, BC's transit funding crunch is becoming a major election issue.

TransLink is proposing to charge all vehicles in Metro Vancouver a yearly fee.

Now, this is somewhere between $100 to $200 a year on top of insurance co- insurance costs.

Now, this is aimed at funding the region's transit system.

it?So we got to this point, uh, for a few reasons.

Uh, one big reason is, you could argue a good reason, is that people have shifted to electric vehicles.

Uh, TransLink has historically relied on fuel taxes to help, uh, subsidize its operations.

Uh, and because of the shift to electric vehicles, uh, those revenues have basically been halved over the last few decades.

The Pattullo Bridge first opened to vehicles in 1937.

A 2016 report presented to TransLink found the bridge was vulnerable not only to an earthquake, but a major windstorm as well.

Coming up, concerns about ancestral burial sites along West Saanich Road.

But that injustice is happening all across our land.

One in 12 jobs are connected to this sector.

We have not had a mayor show up to a TransLink meeting in the last four years.

Maybe he's shown up to one or two.

As a result, we've lost 22 bus routes to Surrey because no one's been fighting for Vancouver bus routes.

You have the federal government with GST.

You have on TransLink with their fees.

I just saw someone who just moved to TransLink here.

There he is.

Anyway, his boss thinks I'm crazy.