Pandemic impacted TransLink fare hike: expert

A UBC transit policy analyst explains to CityNews while TransLink fares are going up, they aren’t nearly as high as they might have been without the pandemic.

On Thursday, TransLink’s board of governors voted to increase fares an average 2.3 per cent for all types of rides starting July 1. As a result, people who commute from Surrey to Vancouver will pay about $50 more per year for their monthly passes.

The transit authority cancelled an increase in 2020 and lowered last year’s increase to encourage people to keep taking transit and argues this year’s increase is still below its planned growth rate.

Werner Antweiler says these increases reflect rising costs, and TransLink’s goal to balance ridership recovery and revenues.

“They’re struggling with ridership and really, they’re missing volume that weighs heavily on their consideration [to raise fare costs].”

Read More: TransLink fares increasing across Metro Vancouver July 1

However, Antweiler warns raising prices too aggressively could also put the recovery at risk.

Single fares are going up between 10 and 15 cents depending on how far you travel. Meanwhile, West Coast Express riders between Mission and Vancouver will see the most significant dollar increase, and they’ll pay nearly $100 more per year for those monthly passes.

Antweiler admits there will be questions from the public of whether the system will remain affordable? And how to finance transit in the long term?

“We should remember that only about a third of the revenue of transit comes from the fares, and the rest of the contributions are coming from different levels of government and fuel taxes and other components. So in that sense, it’s an increase that reflects the cost level,” he explained.

Antweiler says he does not view the fare hike to be “particularly aggressive” because it does not reflect the significant increase in fuel costs.

“The fares themselves cannot really be the main contribution here. If they actually put all the capital needs that they have on increased fares, and we couldn’t afford transit.”

To get TransLink closer to transition away from fossil fuels and complete its big projects. Antweiler emphasizes the provincial and federal governments need to make “investments into the future.”

Plans like Surrey SkyTrain or the Broadway Subway should not be impacted Antweiler says, since fares are generally used for operational costs.

– With files from Denise Wong

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