TransLink CEO expresses concern over UBC SkyTrain operating costs | Daily Hive

Mark V train at SkyTrain's Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan)

While multi-billion dollar price tags and ribbon-cuttings dominate the headlines, the quieter, less glamorous reality of running new public transit services — the ongoing cost of maintaining the equipment and infrastructure in good condition and keeping them moving — often gets overlooked.

That was a sticking point for TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn on Friday, when he made his annual address to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

When asked about the progress achieved to date for planning the eventual project of building SkyTrain’s Millennium Line extension from Arbutus Station to the University of British Columbia, Quinn emphasized the UBC SkyTrain extension (UBCx) is a “great project” and TransLink is “supportive.”

“That corridor is really important. The 99 B-Line is one of the heaviest ridden bus routes in all of North America.”

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He also added that the current project of building the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension reaching Arbutus Station will be a “really fantastic addition” when it opens in Fall 2027.

But he says there is also a need to ensure the ongoing operations and maintenance costs of such new major infrastructure are fully funded, once such extensions are up and running.

“We can’t continue on a path of focusing and funding these big capital projects without thinking through how we’re going to fund the operations afterwards,” said Quinn.

“I think as long as we educate folks and policy makers that we have to have these conversations in parallel… We can’t just have a capital [cost] conversation or an operating [cost] conversation. We can’t just say, ‘Hey, we want UBCx and that’s it.’ It’s great, don’t get me wrong, I want to see a SkyTrain to UBCx. We’re very supportive of that, [but] we have to also have a conversation about how we’re going to run the trains. This is not crazy thinking here. This is a rational thought of how are we going to fund the operations of UBCx. Let’s also have that conversation and move forward.”

Currently, the provincial government is leading the design, planning, and implementation of the UBC SkyTrain project, with a major portion of the business case now complete, and work on the project’s financial strategy expected to take another year. This planning work to date has even involved extracting major soil samples along the route between Arbutus Street and UBC, with contractors completing the drilling of boreholes at 100-metre intervals in 2024. Under TransLink and the Mayors’ Council’s 10-year strategy through 2034, UBC SkyTrain would begin construction in the early 2030s.

Last month, Vancouver City Council unanimously renewed its support for the UBC SkyTrain extension, requesting the provincial government expedite its work in advancing the project.

translink ubc skytrain route options april 2022

TransLink’s recommended route and station locations for UBC SkyTrain, April 2022. (TransLink)

$58-million increase in average annual operating costs for SkyTrain expansion and upgrades

However, Quinn’s comments come against the backdrop of TransLink’s continued structural operating revenue deficit, which is currently temporarily partly being covered by a new round of operating subsidies from the provincial government — $312 million from 2025 to 2027 or about $100 million per year. The provincial government intends for this to be the final round of pandemic-induced operating subsidies.

New provincial legislation will come into place in 2028 to provide TransLink with a new permanent stable source of revenue, which could potentially consider options such as an annual vehicle levy or sales tax surcharge — examples of brand new funding tools that require legislation changes.

In the meantime, earlier this year, in order to make up for the other half of the operating revenue shortfall, TransLink approved higher increases to property taxes, parking taxes, and fares, including including the first-ever increase to the YVR AddFare on SkyTrain’s Canada Line for trips originating from Vancouver International Airport.

“We’ve also got to have an honest conversation about our funding. We solved about half of that funding gap. We’ve got another half to go,” said Quinn.

coquitlam omc 4 skytrain construction october 26 2025

October 2026 construction progress on SkyTrain’s OMC4 facility near Braid Station in Coquitlam. (Kenneth Chan)

A 2023 TransLink staff report noted that the third highest new operating cost factor over the coming years — between 2026 and 2033 — is SkyTrain expansion, including the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension to Arbutus, the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension, and the various “Expo Millennium Upgrade projects,” which includes the higher operating costs of the new larger Mark V train fleet, the new operations and maintenance train yards in Coquitlam (OMC4) and Surrey (OMC5), and the new state-of-the-art Edmonds control centre building (OMC2). It is estimated these combined increased SkyTrain operating costs total $408 million over seven years or an average of $58 million per year. This does not include the UBC SkyTrain operating costs.

Presumably, major operating cost savings will follow once the 99 B-Line is fully discontinued and other east-west bus routes are scaled back after the UBC SkyTrain opens, allowing TransLink to reallocate substantial resources to strengthen bus services in other parts of the region.

Both the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension to Arbutus and the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension represent a 27 per cent growth in the overall size of the SkyTrain network. Together, before the end of this decade, the SkyTrain network will grow by 22 km — pushing it to a total length of over 100 km — and 14 stations.

translink ubc skytrain extension bus network

Map of the proposed bus route changes after the opening of the SkyTrain extension from Arbutus Station to UBC. (TransLink)

However, the single largest operating cost driver is the increased cost of labour due to recent collective agreements with the public transit authority’s unions. Over seven years, this is a total of $551 million — an average of $32 million per year — from labour rate increases.

Another $288 million over seven years (average of $41 million per year) is from general inflation, including fuel, maintenance costs, and other contractual increases.

The expectation of growing traffic congestion on Metro Vancouver’s roads is the second largest operating cost driver. TransLink estimates it would need to spend $411 million over seven years (average of $59 million per year) to add an average of 58,000 hours of bus service per year to ensure current service levels and frequencies are maintained, offsetting the impact of the slower movement of buses due to congestion.

Another $118 million (average of $17 million per year) would go into improving bus services for First Nations reserves.

BRT vs. SkyTrain

Until very recently, TransLink had been unable to expand service, relying instead on shifting resources to busier routes — improving frequency in some areas while reducing it in others. Now, with a new infusion of funding, the public transit authority is finally increasing overall service levels for the first time since the pandemic, resulting in a genuine net gain in service to meet rising ridership demand.

Quinn said the current investment plan is the largest bus service expansion since 2018. This includes increased capacity for about 50 bus routes with overcrowding.

“What’s especially amazing to me is how fast we can move when funding does land, going from plan to pavement in record speed,” he said, noting that 25 per cent of the increases have already been implemented over four months since the approval of the investment plan.

There will also be 40 new and improved bus routes for under-served areas of the region.

While Quinn is supportive of more SkyTrain extension projects, he also put an emphasis on the need to advance TransLink’s first three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines, which is need of capital funding.

translink brt station stop concept bus rapid transit

Potential concept of TransLink’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) services. (TransLink)

Proposed concept of Metrotown-North Shore BRT, August 2025. (TransLink)

“We’ve got to have some really honest conversations about the projects in the region and the capital priorities that we’ve set — that the Mayor’s Council have set around making Bus Rapid Transit happen and a bus-first system, a bus system that supports the region,” he said, hinting that BRT should take precedence over the UBC SkyTrain extension if both capital and operating funding questions remain unsolved.

This includes the King George Boulevard BRT between Surrey City Centre and South Surrey, the Langley-Haney Place BRT between Langley City Centre and Maple Ridge, and the Metrotown-North Shore BRT between SkyTrain’s Metrotown Station and Park Royal in West Vancouver via the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.

All three BRT lines would have a combined total route length of approximately 62 km, served by about 40 bus stops that closely resemble street-level Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations.

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)

Option 1 and Option 2; proposed routes for Metrotown-North Shore BRT, August 2025. (TransLink)

Quinn claims these BRT lines will be built at half the price of the Canada Line and offer “similar speed and frequencies.” TransLink is counting on the construction of centre bus-only lanes along nearly the entire routes and the installation of traffic signal priority measures and other bus priority measures to achieve their promise of creating BRT services that are competitive to driving speeds. The estimated combined total construction cost of these projects is roughly $1 billion.

“Our peers have been using these technologies for decades. We’ve got to catch up. And they’re seeing impressive outcomes, including improved travel times and reliability,” he said.

“We do think BRT is a really good tool in the toolbox to be able to serve these corridors where we do see high-density development coming in. So that development is coming in, high-density folks. We need a good, reliable, frequent rapid transit service to serve those people. We have to be funded for that, both on the operating side and the capital side. That density, that housing piece, is not going to work if people can’t get around it.”

As an interim measure, as a precursor to the future BRT project, the existing R2 Marine Drive RapidBus service that serves the North Shore will see its route significantly extended southward by crossing the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to reach Brentwood Town Centre and Metrotown. This route extension is expected to be achieved by early 2027. Currently, the R2 RapidBus runs between Park Royal and Phibbs bus exchange.

SFU Gondola and TransLink’s first for-profit real estate project

As for the project to build the gondola public transit line between SkyTrain’s Production Way-University Station and Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus, when asked to provide a progress update by Daily Hive Urbanized, Quinn said it is now “around 50 per cent designed.”

“It’s quite far along in the design process for us. I think similar to our Bus Rapid Transit projects, the gondola needs capital funding. Like many of these, we need those capital funds to build it,” he said. He is counting on the federal government’s upcoming budget announcement this week to provide more details about how major capital projects will be supported by the new federal Canada Public Transit Fund.

TransLink SFU Burnaby Mountain Gondola Lower Terminal Rendering f

Artistic rendering of the SFU Burnaby gondola lower terminal building next to SkyTrain Production Way-University Station. (TransLink)

TransLink SFU Burnaby Mountain Gondola Upper Terminal Rendering 2

Artistic rendering of the SFU Burnaby gondola upper terminal located atop Burnaby Mountain. (TransLink)

translink sfu burnaby mountain gondola route map

SFU Burnaby Mountain gondola route map. (TransLink)

Quinn also highlighted the long-term revenue opportunities of TransLink’s recently-created, for-profit real estate development division, which seeks to redevelop under-utilized existing properties and acquired properties into high density revenue generators and generators of ridership, especially if it is a transit-oriented development.

The division’s very first development project — in partnership with PCI Developments — will be the new 30-storey, mixed-use secured purpose-built rental housing tower next to Arbutus Station, featuring 208 market rental homes and 52 below-market rental homes. He says construction will begin in 2026.

“That’s been very exciting for us… That will generate revenue for us. So we’re trying to have innovative, creative revenue streams that can come into TransLink to help us fund transit operations. That’s a really important piece of the puzzle,” said Quinn.

During the session, Quinn also shared that TransLink is moving ahead with its long-planned overhaul of the Compass fare payment system, including new technology and the replacement of fare gates and bus card readers. It is now seeking bids from companies to design, plan, install, and operate the upgraded system.

2096 West Broadway 2560-2576 Arbutus Street Vancouver PCI TransLink October 2024

October 2024 artistic rendering of 2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/PCI Developments/TransLink)

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