TransLink cancels previously announced layoffs, service reductions

TransLink has put the brakes on major service cuts and nearly 1,500 layoffs that would have taken effect later this month just as the province’s COVID-19 restrictions are now set to loosen.

Metro Vancouver’s transit agency said the move was prompted by progress in talks with the B.C. government to address TransLink’s pandemic-related revenue shortfall, though the province has not yet put a dollar amount on its aid.

“The transit service provided by TransLink is essential to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in our region. We will be ready to provide safe, reliable transit service as people return to work,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond.

TransLink had planned to cancel 41 bus routes on May 18 and reduce frequency on those that remained. Service hours would have been reduced by 35 per cent compared to early March.

TransLink suspended 18 bus routes last month and six last week, and service cuts have already been made to SkyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express. There are no plans to roll back the service cuts already made, but the agency is re-evaluating its service needs.

Ridership on the transit system has dropped by more than 80 per cent since COVID-19 restrictions went into place in mid-March, causing TransLink to lose about $75 million a month.

TransLink had been working with the province on a plan to get the system back to near normal by September, but those talks were accelerated this week when the province announced plans to reopen many closed businesses and services starting on May 19.

Although TransLink does not know how much money the province will provide, the agency says it is now confident it will be able to provide service for those who need it when restrictions are rolled back. Part of the uncertainty is because it remains unclear whether the federal government will aid transit agencies.

Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson, who is responsible for TransLink, said the province will continue, along with TransLink, to call on the federal government for support.

Unions were relieved that their members’ jobs would be spared.

Unifor, which represents 5,000 workers at Coast Mountain Bus Company — 1,200 of whom were facing job losses, most of them bus drivers — said the layoffs would have been devastating for the commutes of front-line workers.

SkyTrain attendants and maintenance staff made up most of the 80 layoffs that were slated for CUPE 7000 members.