The mayor’s council wants to meet with the BC NDP and says transit funding should be a priority

Metro Vancouver’s Council of Mayors is putting pressure on the province to provide more transit funding now that the BC NDP has been re-elected.

At a meeting Thursday, Chairman Brad West said the funding must be completed by April 30, 2025 to “avoid a doomsday scenario of significant cuts and cuts to services across the region.”

North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan asked Sara Ross, TransLink’s vice-president of transportation, policy and planning, if an agreement would be signed by then.

Ross said that is the goal, but “whether we can achieve that is not clear at this time.”

The mayors’ council said that if new financing solutions are not put in place by then, TransLink will not be able to maintain current services beyond January 2026.

Malcolm Brodie, vice-chairman of the group, said if cuts do happen they will be dramatic.

“Some cities are going to lose a significant amount of their bus service, even the SkyTrain lines, Canada Line — there will be cuts on those lines,” he said.

TransLink faces a $600 million annual deficit.

The mayors’ council is asking higher levels of government to spend $2.9 billion a year on a 10-year expansion project.

Brodie said he wants to meet with the county immediately.

“This has real consequences if we can’t all sit around the table and work something out in the near future,” he said.

The NDP said it is currently working on forming a new cabinet. As soon as this is known, a discussion will take place with the mayor’s council.