COVID-19 to blame for uncertainty around SkyTrain to Langley plans
Posted May 28, 2020 7:40 am.
Last Updated May 28, 2020 1:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – It looks like the pandemic has hit plans for SkyTrain from Surrey to Langley.
In a report going to the Mayors’ Council on Thursday, TransLink’s VP of Transportation Policy and Planning says a lot of questions have to be answered.
Geoff Cross says money is the big issue.
“The pandemic is adversely impacting TransLink’s finances and much work will be required before TransLink will be able to develop and approve the next Investment Plan: once the longer-term economic and public health situation begins to stabilize and becomes more clear, the agency will need to reset its projected revenues and expenditures over the ten-year period, confirm available senior government funding, recapitalize its depleted reserves and re-prioritize its entire existing capital plan,” he writes in a report to the TransLink Mayors’ Council.
Cross wonders if there is still buy-in from Victoria and Ottawa for the project, and questions the viability of the first phase to Fleetwood.
However, despite his concerns, Cross believes the business case for the SkyTrain extension south of the Fraser is still strong and that the line all the way to downtown Langley is a crucial addition to the region’s transit infrastructure.
“The business case is already with senior government and the scope could readily scale with additional funding. However, it is fiscally prudent to wait until the nature and magnitude of emergency relief and stimulus programs is more certain.”
The report suggests approvals for the investment plan could now happen sometime this fall.
Mayors’ Council Chair Jonathan Cote says he still wants to see the project go forward, and explains an investment plan was supposed to be coming before Mayors’ Council this July.
“Given the financial uncertainty TransLink is facing, that’s no longer going to be possible,” he says.
Cote explains the Surrey expansion is still a priority project, but the transit company’s financial stability needs to be worked through first.
He adds many transit projects could see delays, and there’s still some uncertainty about how the projects will go forward.
“We are still cautiously optimistic that the project we’ve been working on in the region to improve transit are still valid transit projects, but, I think, over the coming year we’re going to learn a lot more information about the future of transportation,” he says.
Even when people start using transit more, Cote says there will still be significant long-term challenges for TransLink.
“We have been in active discussions with the provincial government and we are trying to engage the federal government to really find a long-term sustainable plan to get transit agencies, not only here in Metro Vancouver, but all across the country into a stable footing so transportation can be part of the rebuilding process.”
-With files from Martin MacMahon
