Proposal would expand bus service, advance BRT routes, defer potential transit cuts

April 10, 2025

NEW WESTMINSTER, BC – TransLink today launched engagement on a 2025 Investment Plan that will increase bus service, reduce overcrowding, and deliver projects that will improve the region’s transportation system. The proposal also defers any potential cuts to transit services by fully funding TransLink operations until the end of 2027.

Public consultation and comments on the 2025 Investment Plan are being accepted starting today until April 24. Those interested can participate on TransLink’s website here.

Following public consultation, the plan will be voted on for approval by the Mayors’ Council and TransLink’s Board on April 30.

Expanding Transit

Proposed investments advance early priorities in the Access for Everyone Plan, and could begin as early as September 2025. Proposals include:

• The largest increase in bus service since 2018, including:
  
  • Increasing service on up to 50 bus routes to address overcrowding
  • 40 new or improved routes to support transit-oriented communities, industrial areas, as well as neighbourhoods with limited or no transit services
  • Seven new or improved seasonal services to parks and beaches
  • Extending the North Shore’s R2 RapidBus to Metrotown by 2027
• Design of three BRT corridors
• Additional HandyDART trips in response to growing ridership
• Adding West Coast Express train cars to address customer demand
• More funding for the Major Road Network, including funding to address the deterioration of road conditions in many areas of the region
• Continuing investments in local active transportation infrastructure and bus priority infrastructure, which also speeds up bus service and makes it more cost-efficient to deliver

Funding the Investment Plan

TransLink has been facing a structural deficit of more than $600 million annually due to a shortage of operating funding caused primarily by declining fuel tax revenue, increasing costs, and fare increases being capped under the rate of inflation between 2020 and 2024. This plan fully funds services through to the end of 2027 and cuts the structural deficit nearly in half starting in 2028.

Funding this plan will include several measures, including:

• A transit fare increase of five per cent in July 2026 followed by two per cent increases annually. This amounts to a $0.14 increase for an average trip in 2026.
• An increase in the YVR AddFare by $1.50 in July 2026 followed by two per cent increases annually. This will be the first increase in this fare since its inception in 2009.
• An additional 0.5 per cent increase to the median household’s property tax in 2025, which equates to $20 for the median household.
• An increase in off-street parking taxes from 24 per cent to 29 per cent.
• Annual operating funding from the Government of British Columbia.

TransLink is committed to continuing to manage its budget prudently. Last year, TransLink announced $90 million in annual cost efficiencies that reduced headcount by eliminating corporate roles, reduced outsourcing contracts by bringing more services in-house, and increased fare evasion enforcement, among other actions. TransLink also had an expert review organizational efficiency, accepted all recommendations that did not reduce transit services, and will identify further cost-efficiencies and savings.

TransLink appreciates the investments by its government partners on the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation and the Province of B.C. to advance these critical initiatives that will help ensure the delivery of quality transit services in the Metro Vancouver region. These investments will position transit as a catalyst for growth, resilience, and long-term prosperity to keep Metro Vancouver and its economy moving.

More information:
Participate in engagement here

Media contact:
TransLink Media Relations
E: media@translink.ca