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Our regional transportation authority has become the Money Monster That Destroyed Greater Vancouver, and it will not listen to the anguished pleas of its victims.
TransLink was created by the NDP in the late 1990s as the transportation arm of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and as a funding format bringing together the three main parties (federal, provincial, and municipal) to finance its development and operation. This structure allowed the relevant municipalities direct input on how transportation and community development intertwined, to the benefit of all.
What has happened to TransLink’s evolution over the last several years runs contrary to the original mandate, with the continued downloading of costs from the province to the municipalities. Local mayors now have close to zero influence over projects or expenses. TransLink has morphed into an unelected form of government that is only beholden to the provincial government, but certainly not to the citizens and taxpayers of our region.
TransLink’s absolute fixation with the high-cost infrastructure-heavy SkyTrain/light metro technology is indebting all of us, and greatly delaying other transit and transportation priorities, particularly south of the Fraser. When the local mayors, through the GVRD, put the RAV project (Canada Line) on hold because the costs were overwhelming compared to alternate alignments and technologies, certain persons in the premier’s office and the ministry of transportation felt aggrieved.
These persons of power made sure that their pet projects would never again be opposed, and went on to change TransLink’s governance structure, and very essence. This has led to the current fiasco wherein the Regional Transportation Authority does very little of what the region (local municipalities and citizens) actually want, but promotes technologies and projects towards its own mysterious goals, and making us pay through the nose.
Our municipalities only receive about eight per cent of total governmental revenue, with the province getting 42 per cent, and the Feds taking 50 per cent. From the measly eight per cent, your city or town must pay for all the local services and infrastructural upgrades, as well as regional sewage and water systems through the GVRD (where the mayors do have input).
These local funds are primarily derived from property taxes. Now TransLink wants, with provincial blessing, a larger piece of the property tax for its purposes. If the local mayors do not turn over the loot, then TransLink will stop projects and cut services.
A variety of taxes and fees have been put forth as a solution to TransLink’s funding shortage, but only one fits the bill: fuel taxes (including the carbon tax).
A vehicle surcharge would unfairly penalize those that must have a vehicle because there is little, or no, public transportation in their area. Road pricing (tolls) unevenly impacts those who must cross particular bridges or other toll catchment zones. Mileage charges are based on distance and vehicle type. Why go to such a convoluted system when the same effect comes through fuel tax?
The senior governments need to supply the municipalities with greater revenue streams, instead of downloading costs. When it comes to regional transportation and public transit, it would only make sense to use a significant portion of the carbon tax to do something truly environmentally-friendly, by funding transit improvements, and the operation of those same transportation services.
The structure and governance of our regional transportation authority needs to revert to something more akin to the original format wherein local communities and mayors have actual input regarding projects, revenues, and expenses.
We are experiencing an example of the tail wagging the dog, in which an unelected agency defines what we will receive in services, sets its own price, and threatens dire consequences if we do not pay up, and shut up.
It is time to take up our pitchforks and fiery brands and do something about the monster that is TransLink, but the only way that can be achieved is by first dealing with its creator — the inner circle of the BC Liberal Party.
Mark M. Miller is a Langley-based research and project consultant.