It was a beautiful morning at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster as VP of Communications and Customer Engagement, Colleen Brennan, welcomed all guests to our annual general meeting .

The meeting was open to the public and discussed how we did last year both operationally and financially, where we are now and where we’re going as a transit system heading into the future.

TransLink’s achievements in efficiency and sustainability were presented by CFO Cathy McClay.

Take a look at some of the highlights Cathy shared:

• The 2014 Budget included over $64 million in cost efficiencies and revenue improvements, of which we exceeded by over $5 million.
• We also achieved slightly over $38 million in one-time savings from contributions from developers and improved buying practices.
• Since 2012, we’ve realized about $240 million in cost savings
• Since 2010, we’ve kept expenditures below the rate of inflation, with only 1.2 per cent compounded annual growth
• TransLink plays a leadership role in sustainability.
• Our anti-idling program for buses has saved 567 thousand litres of fuel, accounting for a savings of $750k last year alone.
• We also decreased energy consumption across our facilities by 2.3 per cent compared to 2013.

Interim CEO Doug Allen spoke about how TransLink is continuing to implement recommendations from the MacNeil report of 2014 to better serve our customers across the region.

He also talked about our very successful and necessary HandyDART program.

This past year, we have expanded the use of taxis to get more people with mobility challenges where they need to go resulting in a 60 per cent reduction in trip denials for HandyDART service.

We delivered more than one million trips on HandyDART vehicles and 74,361 trips by taxi.

Everyone in attendance was able to hear some stories from wonderful employees across TransLink and its operating companies.

Mechanical engineer with BCRTC, Matt Doyle works behind the scenes to make sure SkyTrain is running smoothly.

“I enjoy going to work because I provide a necessary public service and I know it makes a difference – to thousands of people – every day.” – Matt

Sabrina Lau Texier, “plan-gineer” (planner in the engineering department) extraordinaire told us her story of why she does the work she does.

“I choose to work in transit because I believe very strongly in what this organization is trying to do – both at work, and outside the office.” – Sabrina

Desiree Gill has been a bus operator out of Vancouver Transit Centre with CMBC for 6 years and she loves her job, working in the heart of Vancouver.

“There is no better way to start the day than seeing the ocean and city skyline while driving over the Granville Street or Burrard Street Bridges, just as the sun’s coming up.” – Desiree

Colleen Brennan, VP Communications and Customer Engagement

Cathy McLay

Barry Forbes, Vice Chair – TransLink Board

Sabrina Lau Texier, Project Manager Engineering & Project Services, TransLink

Matt Doyle, Mechanical Engineer BCRTC

Doug Allen

Desiree Gill, Transit Operator

Looking for even more information about how TransLink fared in 2014? Check out our latest Annual Report and Statutory Report.

Author: Adrienne Coling