Metro Vancouver mayors are puzzled by the government’s stance on funding for regional transit initiatives.
The Mayors’ Council on regional transportation recently presented Transportation Minister Todd Stone with its 30-year transportation vision and investment plan, something the minister had requested so a referendum could be held regarding funding of transit in the region.
In a June 27 letter to Stone, the Mayors’ Council stated that it continues to believe “the referendum is not sound policy” and the province is abrogating its regional responsibility by not taking a more active and supportive role in its implementation of transit and transportation.
“What we did within the 12 short weeks that we had was phenomenal. It was a big grind. It took a lot of time,” Mayor Wayne Wright said of the transportation vision and investment plan. “What we are asking for is, how do we do any more than we have already done? We have actually done every single thing that was asked of us. Remember, we didn’t ask for the referendum. I’ll be quite frank; we have always said it’s not going to be a property tax because we believe there is a better way of doing it.”
Wright, vice-chair of the Mayors’ Council, hopes to get a response from the transportation minister and have more clarity on the issue at its July 29 meeting.
Although the Mayor’s Council believes the issue of transportation and transit funding is too “complex and important” of an issue to be decided by a referendum, in order to comply with provincial legislation, it has suggested the referendum be held in March 2015 – if it goes ahead.
The Mayors’ Council also believes the TransLink governance model doesn’t have the key funding tools necessary to address the region’s needs.
Soon after the Mayors’ Council released its transportation vision and investment plan, the transportation minister stated the province wouldn’t allow the province’s current carbon tax to be used to fund transit expansion.
“The Mayors’ Council finds the government’s position on the possible funding sources to be puzzling (rejection of the carbon tax and support for property tax increases and mobility pricing) given the continuing reliance on the somewhat arbitrary and ambiguous funding source criteria identified by the province (being affordable for families, having no negative impact on the economy, being regional in nature and not impacting provincial revenue),” stated the June 27 letter.
The Mayors’ Council proposed six revenue sources to fund the additional $400 million required annually by year 12 of the plan:
* a reallocation of the transportation-related carbon tax, which is now collected by the province;
* a new regional carbon tax;
* a toll on the Pattullo Bridge when it is replaced; w an average two per cent annual transit fare increase; w mobility pricing, including distance-based road charges;
* land value capture – a mechanism that allows TransLink to retain a portion of increased land values related to transportation investments.
The 30-year vision calls for a tolled four-lane Pattullo Bridge, light rail transit lines in Surrey, an extension of the Millennium Line along the Broadway corridor to Arbutus, a 25 per cent increase in bus service, maintenance and upgrades to the 2,300 kilometres of the region’s major road network to keep vehicles and goods moving, and expansions to SeaBus service, HandyDart service, West Coast Express and existing SkyTrain lines.
