COVID-19 PROVED PLANS DO GO AWRY
Outgoing TransLink CEO Desmond hopes 2021 will be `a year of calm'
Metro Vancouver's transit authority began 2020 with a long list of ambitious goals, from an investment plan update and finishing a 30-year regional transportation strategy, to moving forward on electrifying its bus fleet.
This year, however, had other plans.
“Of course, everything did have to change,” TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond said in a year-end interview. “From all the great aspirations we had, to survival, getting creative, beginning to innovate, and then finding a way to be stable in the context of an otherwise unsettled environment.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated TransLink's ridership, which is now just over 40 per cent of normal, and caused financial hardship that will be felt for years. Financial aid from the federal and provincial governments will help the organization get through this year and next, however, there is work to do to deal with a long-term revenue shortfall.
“There'll have to be, I think, a really smart assessment made of how our finances over the next few years should be set up in the context of still-fluid ridership trends,” Desmond said.
TransLink made a number of cutbacks to save money this year, some of which will carry over into 2021. Those include deferring bus and rail service improvements that were meant to serve the steadily increasing number of people using transit in Metro Vancouver.
Although some initiatives will be put off, Desmond said major capital projects that have been in the works for a while and rely on funding from the provincial and federal governments will proceed in 2021.
Top of the list is updating the Phase 2 investment plan and working to get the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project underway. The business case is still being reviewed by senior governments, but during the recent provincial election campaign the NDP committed to making sure the line extends to Langley, even though it is currently funded only to Fleetwood. Desmond said they will also continue to support the provincial government on the Broadway subway project.
Finishing the 30-year longrange plan, which will go through another round of public engagement in the spring, will be another ambitious undertaking.
Desmond is also eager to resume work on electrifying the transit authority's fleet and completing projects that are part of their “state of good repair” program, which include upgrading SkyTrain, elevator and escalator replacements or installing Braille bus route information at every stop.
“From projects like that all the way to the big infrastructure projects, TransLink will continue to do those projects because we are very much focused on the future,” Desmond said.
“We're not going to defer maintenance and run down our assets and pass on a bigger problem to our future leaders and taxpayers, and the things that we need to do to chart out a course to make sure we still have a very, very strong, functional transit system are all still on.”
TransLink will have to do most of that without Desmond, who announced in October he will leave the organization in early February to return home to the United States.
In early January, the organization will announce who will serve as acting CEO, and then Desmond will spend the bulk of his time focusing on transition, such as setting up key policy moves and making sure he can properly hand off to the acting CEO and executive team the files and relationships where he took the lead.
“My job now is to really make sure it's as smooth and seamless a transition as possible so that the organization doesn't blink the day I leave, and the day that I'm not there they'll be carrying on with an active and constructive agenda,” he said.
In contrast with this year, Desmond is hoping 2021 will be a year of calm.
Instead of being worn down by a constant, overwhelming barrage of new crises and problems, he'd like to see staff be able to focus on “normal work” along with getting good service out to customers every day.
“My organization needs to take a deep breath. We're tired — folks are tired, they're working hard, the commitment is extraordinary from folks,” Desmond said.
“So, that's what I'm hoping for: turn the corner, put COVID behind us, put emergency management behind us — and no snowstorms.”