TransLink proposes fare and tax hikes to avoid big cuts, improve services | Daily Hive

TransLink proposes fare and parking and property tax hikes to avoid cuts and improve services

TransLink's R4 41st Avenue RapidBus. (Kenneth Chan)

After warning of the possibility of major cuts to Metro Vancouver’s public transit network over the past two years due to its imminent fiscal cliff, TransLink has now devised a proposal to not only avoid such drastic cuts, but make service sizeable service level improvements.

This appears to be a middle-of-the-road compromise, with the public transit authority opting to further increase fares and taxes, instead of completely relying on operating subsidies from the provincial government.

There will still be additional operating subsides from the provincial government, which simultaneously announced today it will provide a one-time grant of $312 million over three years — about $100 million per year from 2025 to 2027. As well, brand new additional types of revenue sources are being contemplated for TransLink.

If the revenue shortfalls were left unaddressed, there were previous worse-case scenarios of a 50 per cent reduction in bus services, a 30 per cent reduction in SkyTrain and SeaBus services, and the suspension of the West Coast Express commuter rail line. This scenario is no longer being contemplated.

“This proposed plan allows us to get back to what we do best, which is delivering transit services that Metro Vancouver residents want and expect,” said Kevin Quinn, CEO of TransLink, in a statement today. “We appreciate the investments from our government partners which will help us to expand transit services to set up the region for growth and long-term prosperity.”

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Parking tax, property tax, and fare hikes, including for the Canada Line’s YVR AddFare

The new plan to avoid the cuts and make improvements includes an average five per cent fare increase in July 2026 — higher than the previously contemplated three per cent increase — and a two per cent increase annually starting in July 2027. This also follows the recent approval of a four per cent fare increase starting in July 2025.

As well, fares will increase for the first-time ever on the YVR AddFare applied to SkyTrain Canada Line trips from Vancouver International Airport to out of Sea Island. This YVR AddFare, in addition to the regular zone-based fares, has been applied ever since the Canada Line’s opening, and it applies to the outbound trips from YVR Airport Station, Sea Island Centre Station, and Templeton Station. Trips remaining within Sea Island will continue to be free, and the YVR AddFare will not apply to trips to reach Sea Island.

With this change, the YVR AddFare will increase by $1.50 starting in July 2026 from the current rate of $5.00 to $6.50, followed by a two per cent annual increase.

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YVR Airport Station on SkyTrain Canada Line, July 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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Boxing Day 2024 crowds at SkyTrain’s Templeton Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Increases to TransLink’s property tax applied across Metro Vancouver will raise an additional $44 million in 2025 and $160 million in 2027. This is generated by property tax increases of eight per cent in 2025 and 22 per cent in 2027.

For the median-value residential property assessed at $909,000, the 2025 property tax increase will represent an additional 0.5 per cent increase, which equates to $20.00.

TransLink’s off-street parking taxes, such as at pay parking lots and parkades, will grow from 24 per cent to 29 per cent. In the 2024 B.C. budget unveiled last month, the provincial government indicated it will amend legislation to enable the public transit authority to increase its parking tax rate. This specific change is expected to raise an additional $20 million per year starting in 2026.

For example, a $10.00 parking fee, inclusive of the existing 24 per cent TransLink tax, is expected to see its cost go up by 38 cents from the five per cent tax rate increase.

Altogether, this funding plan — including the interim subsidy from the provincial government — will fully cover services through the end of 2027, and cut TransLink’s structural deficit by nearly half starting in 2028.

“This investment plan proposal will not only fully fund TransLink services for two years, but will expand transit with the largest increase to bus service since 2018,” said Brad West, chair of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council and the Mayor of Port Coquitlam.

“Now, more than ever, is the right time to invest in British Columbia’s future, and these investments are crucial to the region’s growth and economic strength.”

TransLink was forecasting a $72 million revenue shortfall for 2025, growing into a $600 million annual shortfall starting in 2026. This was due to a combination of factors, including the depletion of previous operating subsidies from the provincial government, lower gas tax revenues from the growing adoption of battery-electric vehicles and improved fuel economy, a higher proportion of single-trip fares instead of monthly passes since the pandemic, growing labour costs, and market inflation impacts on operating and maintenance costs.

Forthcoming new funding sources for TransLink from new provincial legislation

TransLink’s proposal also notes that the provincial government has committed to provide the public transit authority with “additional revenue source(s)” starting in 2027, with these unspecified measures requiring the approval of new legislation.

If the legislation is approved, these brand new types of revenue sources will provide TransLink with at least $112 million per year in new revenue, starting in 2028.

“The new source(s), when combined with the utilization of other existing revenue sources, is also intended to help TransLink fix the remaining deficit and make further progress on the Access for Everyone Plan. TransLink and the Province will work together to develop the parameters and options for the new revenue source(s) to be introduced in 2027. A new investment plan, drawing on increases to existing and the new revenue tool(s) will be required in 2027 to ensure that TransLink can fix the remaining deficit and make further progress on the Access for Everyone Plan,” reads the proposal.

The allocation of $312 million in additional operating funding to TransLink, provided as a one-time provincial grant between 2025 and 2027, is intended to be a transition source of funding, until the legislation approves the new unspecified funding sources.

Service improvement promises

In return for higher fares and taxes, passengers will see what TransLink calls the largest expansion of bus service since 2018 — including increased service on up to 50 routes to ease overcrowding, and 40 new or improved routes serving transit-oriented communities, industrial areas, and underserved neighbourhoods.

Overall, bus service will increase by five per cent compared to current levels — the first net gain since the pandemic. Until now, improvements in frequency and capacity on certain bus routes have largely been achieved by reallocating existing funding and resources, such as decreasing services on some bus routes with lower ridership in favour of improving other routes with greater demand.

This new plan supports the route extension of the North Shore’s R2 RapidBus from its existing easternmost terminus of Phibbs bus exchange to reach SkyTrain’s Brentwood Town Centre station and Metrotown Station in Burnaby via the Ironworkers Second Narrows Memorial Bridge. The route extension is expected to launch in 2027.

As well, TransLink will design three new Bus Rapid Transit lines, including the King George Boulevard BRT and Langley-Haney Place BRT.

Proposed preliminary concept for TransLink’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines. (TransLink)

translink brt bus rapid transit route map king george boulevard langley haney place

Proposed route map for King George Boulevard BRT and Langley-Haney Place BRT. (TransLink)

The plan also includes seven new or enhanced seasonal routes to major park and beach destinations, additional HandyDART trips, and more passenger cars on West Coast Express with longer trains boosting capacity.

Other components funded by the plan entail investments in local active transportation infrastructure — such as bike lanes and pedestrian pathways — and bus priority infrastructure, and more funding to municipal governments through TransLink’s ongoing Major Road Network (MRN) program to address the deterioration of road conditions in many areas of the region. MRN funding will go up by 70 per cent or about $50 million per year.

It should be emphasized that this plan primarily covers operating costs, not the major multi-billion dollar capital costs of building new and improved infrastructure, such as the SFU Burnaby Mountain gondola, additional SkyTrain extensions, new bus depots, and new bus orders.

Public consultation on this plan of fare and tax hikes and service improvements is now underway, with an online survey open through April 24, 2025. The input gathered will be used to inform a final decision for approval by TransLink’s board of directors and the Mayors’ Council on April 30, 2025.

The last time TransLink faced a fiscal cliff was in 2009, just ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympics. In October 2009, to avoid major service cuts, the Mayors’ Council approved a “Funding Stabilization Plan” entailing a gas tax increase of three cents per litre, a seven per cent increase to fares, and a parking sales tax increase from seven per cent to 21 per cent. At the time, these measures raised an additional $130 million per year.

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