Metro Vancouver mayors call for public transit funding as ridership surges

Metro Vancouver mayors call for public transit funding as ridership surges

Metro Vancouver mayors are calling on the federal and provincial governments to commit to new funding for public transit as housing targets are expected to make ridership surge.

TransLink’s Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation warned the governments that the system’s overcrowding is “rapidly worsening” and without new funding for public transit expansions, it will make it difficult for local governments to expand housing in communities as quickly as needed.

By 2025, data from TransLink shows that almost four-in-10 rush-hour bus trips “will be severely overcrowded, leaving tens of thousands of commuters every day watching full buses pass them.”

The warning came Tuesday (Sept. 19) during the Union of BC Municipalities annual convention in Vancouver.

Mayors’ council chair Brad West said the region’s population is growing at a record pace while the housing affordability crisis deepens.

“As mayors, we are concerned that any delays in expanding transit service will make it very difficult for city councils and builders to expand housing in our communities as quickly as is needed. The window for the provincial and federal government to take action is getting very small,” said West, who is also the mayor of Port Coquitlam.

TransLink says transit service was frozen at 2019 levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the region’s population has grown by more than 200,000 people since then. An additional 50,000 people are expected to move to the region every year.