Metro Vancouver's transportation authority says a plan is in place to fund the largest increase in bus service in the region since 2018, in addition to expansions and improvements approved last year.
A statement from TransLink says its board of directors and the Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation approved the plan on Wednesday.
It says the 2025 investment plan will see TransLink improve or add 40 new routes, including the creation of routes in eight areas that are currently without transit and enhancement of routes in six other under-served areas.
The statement says new routes will reach industrial areas including Campbell Heights in Surrey, Gloucester in Langley and Tilbury in Delta, and TransLink will provide "enhanced access" to Stanley Park in Vancouver, Terra Nova Park in Richmond and Golden Ears Provincial Park in Maple Ridge.
The transit authority says the plan will be funded through several measures, including a $20 increase in property taxes for median households next year and a fare increase of 14 cents for the average trip starting in July 2026.
The B.C. government is also making a one-time contribution of $312 million over three years, an investment announced earlier this month.
TransLink had been facing a deficit of more than $600 million annually, with Wednesday's statement saying the shortfall was caused primarily by declining fuel tax revenue, increasing costs, and the capping of fare increases under the rate of inflation between 2020 and 2024.
The newly approved plan will fully fund TransLink operations until the end of 2027 "and will cut the structural deficit by almost half thereafter," it says.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
