The federal government has committed more than $1.5 billion over 10 years for Metro Vancouver's beleaguered transit network, but a public transit advocate says it still leaves a massive funding gap.
The Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities announced the funding deal for TransLink Friday, touting it as the first metro-region agreement under the new Canada Public Transit Fund.
The funding from 2026 to 2036 is in addition to $663 million announced by Ottawa in January for TransLink infrastructure over the same period.
Denis Agar, executive director of Movement Metro Vancouver Transit Riders, said the funding falls far short of what the system actually needs.
"The federal government does not fund transit operating expenses, and that's what Translink's big problem is," Agar said. "They keep making announcements at a time when it seems like they're filling a need in local municipalities, and people like me and even TransLink have to keep going out and saying, 'This doesn't help us.'"
Agar, an urban planner who used to work for TransLink, said the federal government has consistently been doling out about $3 billion a year for transit capital projects across the country, "but that's such a drop in the bucket compared with the need that exists in this country."
He said overcrowding issues in urban centres such as Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto are now spilling over to smaller communities.
"We're seeing people left behind by full buses now in Halifax and Kelowna and Castlegar and I really think that that means it's a federal problem," he said. "We just need the federal government to play a much bigger role in transit funding and actually start funding transit operations."
TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn said in the statement announcing the funding that it looks forward to continuing its partnership with Ottawa through the new deal, and it continues to work with all levels of government to expand transit to meet the region's needs.
Quinn has said repeatedly in the past that TransLink faces an annual operational shortfall of $600 million starting next year, and without funding to address the gap, transit services would face "significant cuts."
Translink operates commuter trains, the SeaBus, and trolley and regular buses, providing 5.5 million transit service hours every year. It also has its own Transit Police department.
Last March, the B.C. government gave TransLink an injection of $479 million in provincial funding to maintain services and fares.
The Canada Public Transit Fund, announced by the federal government last year, is set to start doling out $3 billion a year beginning in 2026.
The federal government also announced Friday a contribution of $189 million over 10 years for BC Transit, a provincial Crown corporation serving communities outside Metro Vancouver.
Agar said transit funding in the region is currently being hashed out between mayors and the provincial government to fill TransLink's "big budget deficit," and his non-profit is planning a rally in Metrotown Station in Burnaby on Sunday to urge policy makers to "go beyond" the bare minimum.
He said transit service levels need to be increased immediately, "or we're just going to see overcrowding reach absolute crisis levels. I mean, it's already crisis."
"It's just going to keep getting worse if we don't increase transit service, like, this month," he said.
