Federal fund won’t save Metro Vancouver transit: TransLink, advocate

A Vancouver transit advocate says a new federal transit fund won’t help local transit systems operate.

The federal government announced the new Canada Public Transit Fund Wednesday, which it says will provide up to $3-billion annually for new transit projects around the country.

The fund has reportedly been in the works for months and was promised in the recent federal budget.

More details were shared as Trudeau made a visit to a subway yard in Toronto.

The program is intended to be permanent, though it is currently only funded for 10 years.

“We’re stepping up with the kind of predictable, long-term transit funding that means our partners, like the City of Toronto and (Mayor) Olivia Chow, can plan for not just the next couple of years, but for the next decade and beyond,” Trudeau said.

That money will be divided into three categories: baseline funding for existing infrastructure, metro-region agreements for Canada’s biggest cities, and funding for specific things like rural communities, Indigenous communities, and active transportation.

While the money isn’t set to flow until 2026, the feds say cities can start planning now, with applications open for baseline funding and metro agreements.

Denis Agar, the executive director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders, says the potential investment isn’t designed for what he thinks the region needs. 

“It’s nice that the feds are giving money to transit, but it really falls short. It doesn’t offer any money to actually operate the new transit that it might buy, and it doesn’t start for another two years, and Metro Vancouver transit riders are really desperate for relief now,” said Agar.

He explains that there’s a big difference in funding projects versus funding operating costs. And he says the region’s transit provider needs help with operating. 

“The funding for transit was growing in the last decade, and it was on a pretty exciting kind of positive trajectory, and then COVID changed all that. Now TransLink is short operating funding.”

In early July, TransLink said it’s still projecting a shortage of over $600 million in operating funding annually, starting at the end of 2025. In May, the service said its projects were in jeopardy due to a “fiscal cliff,” adding that it must secure a new funding model to resolve a coming financial crisis.

Agar added that as more people opt for electric cars over public transit options, TransLink loses out on tax revenue. He says one level of government or another needs to do something to address overcrowding and provide people with more frequent service so they don’t turn away from transit.

“The population is going to keep growing. Business is going to keep booming. Students are going to keep going to university. And so the people that are left behind by multiple buses in a row —that’s going to keep getting worse, until a government decides to stop pointing at the other government and provide actual funding for transit. Now,” he said.

Agar says advocacy and ridership are the only ways the federal government will listen to TransLinks cries for help.

“The only way the feds are going to come up with operating dollars is if we keep hammering them to finally give,” said Agar. “Hammer all three levels of government to make sure they finally give us the money to run a transit service that we can be proud of, that we can rely on, that we can use to get to work on time.”

In a statement to CityNews, TransLink says it’s grateful to the federal government for rolling out its capital funding program.

“We are ready to apply to secure funding for Metro Vancouver. However, we still need to find a sustainable funding model that will address our operating shortfall and allow us to expand transit services to keep up with the growing needs of the region.”

—With files from Cole Schisler and The Canadian Press.