Lower Mainland residents will likely be paying two cents more per litre every time they stop to pump gas as a weighted majority of the region’s mayors are set to vote in favour of TransLink’s expansion plan.
The Moving Forward supplemental plan calls for a two-cent-per-litre gas levy to help fund the proposed Evergreen Line — a $ 1.4-billion, 11-kilometre rapid-transit line connecting Coquitlam to Vancouver via Port Moody and Burnaby — as well as transit-service upgrades.
Mayors from Surrey, Vancouver and five other cities issued a joint statement yesterday in support of the plan, saying it is “crucial to reducing gridlock, growing Metro Vancouver’s economy and achieving long-term environmental goals for the region.”
The seven mayors hold 68 out of 117 population-weighted votes to pass the plan even if the other cities oppose. Burnaby, Richmond and Delta’s mayors are reportedly against it.
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said despite the forgone conclusion of the regional mayors’ vote, his opinion on the “wrong-headed” plan hasn’t changed.
“TransLink is the beast that must be fed,” he said. “Every time they approach us with one of these supplements, it’s a massive increase in taxation at that time but it also promises further increases down the line.
“I’m fundamentally opposed to being responsible for funding a private board where we have no control over what priorities are set, where the money is spent or whether the money is spent appropriately.”
If the plan gets the official go-ahead, the gas-tax hike for the line as well as transit-service improvements — including a new King George Boulevard B-line from White Rock to Guildford; upgrades to Main Street, Metrotown and New Westminster SkyTrain stations; and a Highway 1 bus rapid transit from Langley to Lougheed station — will be implemented in April 2012.
The proposed gas tax will raise $ 32 to $ 45 million a year of the $ 70 million needed annually for the plan. The mayors and the province would have to approve a funding source for the remaining money.
If alternative funding sources such as the carbon tax, a vehicle levy or road-congestion charges aren’t secured, households will have to pay $ 23 more in property taxes in 2013-14.
“We’ve really been working hard to get more transit investment because we know people are waiting for buses and buses are full,” Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs said.
“We haven’t had any increase in transit service for about a year, but ridership goes up and up.”
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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