Translink's 2013 Base Plan will result in service cuts

TransLink has been talking about its financial woes for quite some time now and it has led to the some service cuts as illustrated in the 2013 draft Base Plan, a three year plan looking at the direction of the Translink services. Could fare hikes be on their way?

TransLink will proceed with:

• The Evergreen Line project
• 109,000 new hours of transit service. Some of these hours were implemented in April 2012
• Rapid Bus service on Highway 1 over the Port Mann Bridge from Carvolth Transit Exchange in Langley to SkyTrain in New Westminster, every 10 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes during off-peak hours
• B-Line service every seven to eight minutes on King George Boulevard and 104th Avenue between Newton and Guilford
• Upgrades to Expo Line stations including improving capacity and accessibility at Main St. and Scott Road, Metrotown, Commercial-Broadway, Surrey Central, New Westminster and Joyce-Collingwood stations

TransLink will not proceed with:

• Implementing approximately 306,000 hours of planned increases of bus service hours
• Expanded SeaBus service to provide 15-minute service on Sundays and holidays in fall, winter and spring
• Restoring original funding for cycling programs and the Major Road Network
• Ten-minute, off-peak frequency on the Highway 1 Rapid Bus service
• The White Rock Centre extension on the King George Boulevard B-Line service

At the end of the day Translink has to find a way to get of out this financial mess or it will end up crippling what is a  decent public transit system. This financial mess will hurt future essential projects such asrapid transit down the Broadway Corridor to at least Alma, if not all the way to UBC and also LRT and/or rapid transit expansion south of the Fraser in Surrey.