TransLink gets funding approval for largest increase in bus service since 2018
The TransLink Board of Directors and the Mayors’ Council approved TransLink’s 2025 Investment Plan. The plan will fund the largest increase in bus service since 2018, advance bus rapid transit (BRT) projects and help reduce TransLink’s long-term structural deficit.
Through the investment plan, TransLink says it will create new bus routes to serve people in eight areas that currently have no transit and will add or enhance bus routes to improve transit in six underserved areas.
“This investment plan allows us to get back to what we do best, which is delivering quality transit services for Metro Vancouver residents,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn. “This plan ensures we have the stability to expand service, help people get to work and reduce overcrowding on transit.”
These improvements will increase people’s access to job sites by adding new routes to industrial areas like Campbell Heights (Surrey), Gloucester (Langley) and Tilbury (Delta). TransLink will also provide enhanced access to parks like Stanley Park, Terra Nova Park (Richmond) and Golden Ears Provincial Park (Maple Ridge).
Key investments include:
- More service on 50 overcrowded bus routes.
- Improving or implementing 40 new routes, including to 14 areas with no or limited transit service.
- Extending the North Shore’s R2 RapidBus to Metrotown by 2027.
- Design stage for three BRT corridors.
- Improve the condition of Metro Vancouver’s deteriorating roads by expanding pavement rehabilitation on the Major Road Network.
- Continuing investments in local walking and cycling paths and bus priority infrastructure.
“Investing in transit means investing in the region’s economy and long-term growth. By expanding transit to under-served areas and to relieve overcrowding on our busiest routes, this investment plan sets us on a path to respond to the demands of a growing region and province,” said Mayors’ Council Chair Brad West.
TransLink says it was facing a structural deficit of more than C$600 million (US$434 million) annually because of an operating funding shortage. This was caused primarily by declining fuel tax revenue, increasing costs and fare increases being capped under the rate of inflation between 2020 and 2024. This new plan will fully fund TransLink operations until the end of 2027 and will cut the structural deficit by almost half thereafter.
The plan will be funded through several measures, including a C$20 (US$14.50) increase in property taxes for median households in 2025 and a fare increase of C$0.14 (US$0.10) for the average trip starting in July 2026. The government of British Columbia is also investing in TransLink operations, including a one-time contribution of C$312 million (US$226 million) and a commitment to a new revenue source by 2027.
“People in Metro Vancouver need access to safe, reliable and affordable transit,” said Mike Farnworth, minister of Transportation and Transit, government of British Columbia. “The collaboration between our government, TransLink and the Mayors’ Council through this investment plan, provides certainty that transit services will not only be protected, but people will also see expansion on busy routes.”
TransLink notes these investments will position transit as a catalyst for growth, resilience and long-term prosperity to keep Metro Vancouver and its economy moving. Read the full investment plan on TransLink’s website.
