6 KEVIN DESMOND

CEO, TRANSLINK PREVIOUSLY #12, 2017

It’s been a big

year for Translink: ridership is set to hit an all-time high, breaking 2017’s record of 407 million boardings, while Desmond was able to get approval for phase two of the authority’s $7.3-billion investment plan in June. Two of the signature projects to be funded by that 10-year plan—a new light-rail transit line in Surrey and the Broadway extension in Vancouver— became hot political potatoes in municipal elections, with mayoral candidates in both cities promising to speed up the plan or ditch light rail for more expensive subways. Desmond was quick to assure would-be contenders there’d be no more money for either.