On this episode of Journal, we try to untangle the complicated, twisted world of transit.

I think most would agree that good transit makes for a liveable city or region and also helps with affordability. So when Translink announced that by June of this year, they would be running a $600 million deficit and would have to start cutting service, it got my attention.

Already there are some routes where the bus is full by the first stop, and others where service is too infrequent to be useful. So more people, less service – and a huge deficit.

Even more surprising was trying to figure out who is actually driving the bus. Who is responsible for a regional transit plan? Is there one? Since the business plan is obviously broken, who has the authority to fix it?

TransLink – the organization that announced it was in trouble – has its own board of directors but it isn’t exactly independent. The Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation over at Metro Vancouver must approve their budget. But – and it is a big BUT – they can’t tell TransLink how to spend the money.

Ultimately it comes down to the provincial government. In an attempt to stanch the bleeding, the Eby government promised $312 million in operations funding, which will give TransLink stable funding for 2 years. At best, this has been described as a bandaid and not a long-term solution.

Mayor Brad West is the Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Mayor’s Council on regional transportation. He is very aware of the weaknesses inherent in this overlapping governance model and has some thoughts on the need for a long term solution.

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