TransLink and the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation released Transport 2050: 10-Year Priorities, detailing priority investments to meet the increasing demand for transit and support the transportation needs of Metro Vancouver’s growing population.    

The proposed 10-Year Priorities is the next step in realizing the ambitious goals and targets set out in Transport 2050, Metro Vancouver’s 30-year Regional Transportation Strategy.

“It’s critical that we lay the groundwork for achieving the region’s shared goals set out in Transport 2050,” says TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn.  

“Our region needs to rapidly invest in transportation improvements to combat climate change, address the housing affordability crisis, and improve congestion in a growing region. Transport 2050: 10-Year Priorities will chart a fast and effective course to quality transportation choices for the people of Metro Vancouver.” 

Proposed investments detailed in the 10-Year Priorities include: 

• Doubling regional bus service levels 
• Adding up to 170 kilometres of new rapid transit on up to 11 corridors, including: 
• Up to nine Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes using new zero-emission buses on dedicated, traffic-separated lanes 
• A rapid transit connection to the North Shore 
• The Burnaby Mountain Gondola to SFU 
• The Millennium Line SkyTrain extension from Arbutus to UBC 
• Exploring potential SkyTrain extensions to Port Coquitlam and to Newton in Surrey 
• Building 450 kilometres of new traffic-separated cycling paths 

“Expanding and strengthening our public transit is one of the smartest ways to address climate change, reduce time-wasting congestion and make transportation more affordable and convenient,” says Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman. “The priorities in this plan are wide-ranging, ambitious, and achievable. They will support the shift in transportation initiatives that are a central part of both our CleanBC Climate Roadmap and TransLink’s own plans.”

Through Transport 2050’s engagement period, we learned that there’s an urgent and widespread need to make housing affordable and ease traffic congestion by increasing and improving transit service as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. 

So, with Transport 2050: 10-Year Priorities, we’re proposing an expansion of the SkyTrain network, an unprecedented increase in local bus service, and introducing high-capacity Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). This new zero-emissions bus-based rapid transit could be deployed along high-demand corridors throughout Metro Vancouver for lesser cost and time to deploy compared to rail-based technology.

“Transport 2050: 10-Year Priorities is an ambitious and necessary plan that outlines more than double the investments from our previous Mayors’ Vision,” says Mayor Jonathan Coté, Chair of the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation. 

“I am confident that with a broadly supported set of priorities and a strong partnership with the Province of BC and the Government of Canada, we can deliver on these shared benefits.” 

We’re also releasing the 2022 Investment Plan which aims to stabilize funding over the next three years. 

Let us know your thoughts on the 2022 Investment Plan and Transport 2050: 10-Year Priorities starting today. Visit translink.ca/priorities to take the survey through May 4, 2022. 

Transport 2050: 10-Year Priorities other proposals include: 

• The fast deployment of rapid transit: up to nine new traffic-separated Bus Rapid Transit lines  
• More than doubling bus service over 2022 levels, bringing us one-third of the way to the service levels set out in Transport 2050 
• Building the Burnaby Mountain Gondola to Simon Fraser University, joining a growing suite of urban public transit gondolas worldwide 
• Studying a future possible grade-separated rapid transit connection between Metrotown and Park Royal via the Second Narrows corridor while implementing better bus service in the short term 
• Exploring other potential SkyTrain extensions, including extensions to Port Coquitlam and along King George Boulevard to Newton 
• The Millennium Line SkyTrain extension from Arbutus Street to the University of British Columbia, pending the development of a new funding model with project partners. 
• Investing in active transport: completing 75 per cent of the 850-kilometre traffic-separated Major Bikeway Network and building bike networks in every Urban Centre and creating 200 new bike lockers and six new bike parkades. 
• A 60 per cent increase to HandyDART service to meet future ridership demand and provide 24-hour service 
• Increasing SeaBus service start and end times to match Expo Line SkyTrain service span 

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