There’s really no easy way to say this: most of our fares will be going up as of January 1, 2013.

You’re going to start seeing ads around the region soon, but here’s a chart above also showing the new costs as of January 1. (Click it for a larger version!)

Here’s the key details on the actual increase:

• Almost all fares will rise except for all adult FareSavers and some AddFares. Here’s the full list of fare changes, including West Coast Express fare increases.
• The Most increases reflect the cost of inflation over the past five years, at a rate of 2% per year.
• Cash, DayPass, and short-term West Coast Express fares haven’t increased since 2008.

Why are fares going up?

This is actually a scheduled increase to fares, and was originally outlined in our 2010 Funding Stabilization work plan, aimed at supporting our operations and keep the system in a state of good repair.

That plan was approved by the Mayors’ Council in 2009 and the fare changes were reaffirmed by TransLink’s Regional Transportation Commissioner in April 2012.

Put more simply, this increase helps sustain our expanded system, which includes services like the Canada Line, and service coming on line like the bus over the Port Mann Bridge, and new B-Line service on King George Boulevard.

For more info, you might be interested in the TransLink Commissioner’s report on these fare increases, which provides a lot of background.

A couple of things to bear in mind

Remember that your monthly FareCards are tax-deductible!

As well, here’s the press release we put out about the increases. It includes some facts about transit that are worth repeating here:

• Fares make up 33% of TransLink’s revenue.
• In 2011, TransLink served 233 million rides; 14 million of these rides were delivered at no extra cost by moving existing resources to where they were needed most and serve more customers.
• TransLink has added or is adding 109,000 new service hours, including a new express bus service over the Port Mann Bridge and new B-Line service on King George Boulevard.
• TransLink’s service area is almost 3,000 square kilometres, making it one of the largest and most unique in North America. TransLink is the only transportation authority to provide an integrated network of services that traverses urban areas, agricultural land, protected greenspace, mountains and water.
• 80 per cent more rides have been served over the last decade with only 45 per cent more service.
• In the last three years, transit ridership has outpaced population growth—a 17-per cent increase in ridership compared to a six-per cent increase in population.
• As a result, transit’s share of all trips taken in Metro Vancouver has grown by 40 per cent over the last 10 years—from 10 per cent to 14 per cent.