Dear Editor
It seems to me that TransLink has fallen off the public scrutiny over the last few months, but look more closely. They have not changed in any way. They still have two CEOs being paid by TransLink, and the current news is that they are going to retire 56 two-year-old buses rather than paying the money to have them repaired. According to them, they are going to buy 86 new buses so they won’t need the old ones anyway. If only we, the taxpayers, had that luxury!
The public voted out their last attempt to increase the PST to get temporary money so they would have a better line of credit to go further in debt.
Somehow to me TransLink does not seem to be getting the message.
About the time of the public plebiscite, I spoke to a man in a coffee shop who said, “I will never vote for any company that has bad judgment with finance, especially those in the public service.”
Just remember that 30 years ago they built a SkyTrain to New Westminster to have it open for Expo 86, but all the stations from Vancouver to New Westminster never had gates built or installed at any of the stations, which leaves the door open to people who do not wish to pay. Since then they have built several lines and none of them has gates installed, to my knowledge.
Considering Translink’s total disregard of public opinion and wild spending and also having no one to watch the possible income lost by not installing gates.
With what I see, I am sure they will find it hard to get new money even with the new Liberal government in Ottawa.
TransLink must hire a good accountant and listen to him, change their ways or do nothing and let some future government do it for them. As it now stands, getting freebies is over.
We need TransLink’s service, but it must be run fiscally well, efficiently and professionally. The answer is simple: change their ways or they will eventually lose control of the company and the big sellers that go with it.
W. Earl Marshall, New Westminster
