Despite facing service cuts, TransLink rejects congestion pricing

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Despite its own reports and recommendations from transit experts, TransLink has ruled out using a potentially lucrative tool to plug a budget shortfall that could force the transit authority to cut bus and rail service by two-thirds in 2026.

A new report suggested mobility pricing — sometimes referred to as congestion pricing — could raise as much as $1.6 billion a year to fund transit operations and expansion. Other tools, like an annual vehicle levy, could raise tens of millions of dollars a year or more.

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Both the vehicle levy and fees based on distance driven have been previously considered by TransLink but not implemented.

In an emailed response to questions, a TransLink spokesperson ruled out mobility pricing as a way to plug the 2026 budget shortfall.

“Mobility pricing is not one of the funding sources we are considering,” he said. “TransLink remains in discussion with our government partners and we look forward to working together on developing a new funding model.”

David Cooper, principal at Leading Mobility Consulting, which prepared the report, said the transit authority’s own studies from 2017-18 suggested mobility pricing could raise anywhere from $1 billion to $1.6 billion a year and would effectively “solve the problem” of TransLink’s budget shortfall.

TransLink’s own reports suggested that regional tolls could reduce regional road congestion by up to 25 per cent and improve travel time reliability by up to 20 per cent.

Cooper admitted that mobility pricing was a tough political sell.

“The idea of charging people for road use is still a relatively new concept in North America,” Cooper said, noting that on Wednesday New York state Governor Kathy Hochul scuttled New York City’s plans to implement congestion pricing, weeks before it was scheduled to go into effect.

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The plan was expected to bring in US$1 billion a year to fund public transit in the city.

London has used congestion pricing since 2003, charging a fee when vehicles are driven into the city’s core. It funds about a third of the city’s £9 billion annual operating budget.

TransLink is currently forecasting a $600 million budget shortfall in 2026 and a cumulative shortfall of $4.7 billion from 2026 to 2023.

The report also recommended adopting a vehicle levy, a regional fee across Metro Vancouver on all vehicles, that could be collected as part of insurance registration with ICBC.

“It is contentious because you’re adding another fee on to someone’s annual vehicle registration,” Cooper acknowledged. “I don’t like additional taxes and fees as a member of the public either. But if you know what your money’s going to and you benefit from it collectively, the conversation changes.”

Montreal has a vehicle levy that funds public transit. In 2023, the city charged $45 a vehicle, which raised about $63 million, according to the report. The levy is set to increase to $59 in 2024 and expected to bring in $125 million.

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TransLink did not address questions about a vehicle levy but admitted the agency was “in urgent need of a new sustainable funding model.”

The regional fuel tax, a primary source of operating revenue, has been declining as people switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles.

“In 2023 alone, TransLink earned $34 million less fuel revenue than in 2022,” TransLink said.

Cooper said that with provincial plans to end gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035, TransLink was on track to lose a fifth of its revenue.

“Now you’ve got to make TransLink whole by some other means,” he said.

In a statement, the Transportation Ministry said it was not considering congestion pricing or a vehicle levy to address TransLink’s funding shortfalls, citing $479 million provided by the province to address “the agency’s most pressing funding pressures” and another $300 million to purchase additional buses.

@njgriffiths
ngriffiths@postmedia.com

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