Vancouver Sun
The funding deal that TransLink reached with the province on Thursday doesn’t entirely fix the agency’s fiscal woes, but it does buy it time to keep working on a permanent resolution, officials say.
The B.C. government announced Thursday that it would provide $312 million in operating funding to the Metro Vancouver transit operator over the next three years.
On TransLink’s side, the funding agreement calls for the five-per-cent fare increase that the agency approved on March 27 to take effect in July, to be followed by two-per-cent annual increases, and a $1.50 increase to the surcharge for travelling from YVR.
It will also require a 0.5 per cent increase to TransLink’s property tax charge, equal to about $20 for a median Metro household.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, vice-chair of the TransLink Mayor’s Council, acknowledged it “is not the settlement that the mayors were hoping for.”
However, at the end of “lengthy and spirited negotiations,” Brodie said, “I think I can say with confidence that this was the best that the mayors could negotiate.” …