Transit authority applies for $149M in gas tax funds
TransLink is looking to spend $149 million of its federal gas tax money on six projects to replace aging buses and shuttles, expand its fleet, and refurbish SkyTrain cars.
The transit authority submitted its annual gas tax application to Metro Vancouver earlier this month, and it was presented to the region’s finance and inter-government committee on Wednesday.
The money, if approved by Metro Vancouver’s board of directors, will help TransLink fulfil the promises in the second phase of its 10-year plan for the region, said Kelly Lownsbrough, TransLink’s director of financial planning and analysis.
To put more wheels on the road, TransLink is looking to buy 30 new 60-foot articulated diesel-electric hybrid buses, 39 forty-foot hybrid buses, and nine 40-foot battery-electric buses. The articulated buses will end up on RapidBus corridors in Surrey and Richmond/Burnaby, the standard buses will go region wide, and the battery-electric buses will join others on Route 100.
The transit authority will also replace 62 community shuttles and purchase an extra nine, which will be deployed across the region.
TransLink is asking Metro for $107.8 million for the standard buses and $16.1 million for the community shuttles.
Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley said he’s concerned that only nine buses being ordered are electric.
“I think you need to get more aggressive on the electric side than what I’m seeing here,” he told TransLink representatives.
TransLink expects to buy 42 replacement HandyDart vehicles and 10 to expand the fleet to add 39,000 trips annually, and is asking Metro for $8 million. They will also be deployed across the region.
The buses and HandyDart vehicles are expected to be on the road in 2021.
Three dozen Mark-I SkyTrain cars also need refurbishment, and TransLink is looking for $17.2 million for that project, which would see the upgraded trains in service next year.
TransLink applies to Metro Vancouver’s board of directors for gas tax funds for transit projects. The Union of B.C. Municipalities holds 95 per cent of federal gas tax money allocated for Metro municipalities in a special account and transfers it to TransLink after receiving notification from the board.
Since 2016, Metro Vancouver’s board has approved about $536 million in gas tax money for TransLink projects.
A review of the Metro Vancouver board’s federal gas tax fund expenditures policy is underway.