TransLink, Vancouver panel call for transit expansion funding

TransLink and the Vancouver-area Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation earlier this week unveiled a 90-day action plan to solicit funding for major transportation expansions in the region.

The plan calls on the British Columbia government to "be ready to make quick decisions over the summer and fall" to fund the next phase of the 10-year vision for metro Vancouver transit and transportation, TransLink officials said in a press release.

TransLink's board and the council in November 2016 approved 2 billion Canadian dollars for the first phase of the decade-long plan.

"Fast provincial action is needed to avoid costly project delays, and to put B.C. first in line for federal transit funding," agency officials said.

The action plan asks the provincial government to commit to a 40 percent contribution for new transit projects, including CA$2.2 billion in matching funds for the South of Fraser light-rail project and CA$360 million to upgrade SkyTrain.

The plan also seeks funding for TransLink's Broadway subway project.

"TransLink and the Mayors' Council have spent the past 18 months preparing these projects, and now we are looking to all parties to commit to work with us, in a true collaboration, to seal the deal by this fall so we [can] start construction in early 2018," said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who chairs the council.