On September 26th, the TransLink Mayors' Council received a report that explored the potential economic impacts caused by cuts to transit service required by TransLink to manage its financial deficits.

Based on TransLink's financial gap, transit service cuts would be approximately 50% overall, and would include cancelling bus routes and SkyTrain and Sea Bus service. The service cuts contemplated in 2025 would lead to 200,000 hours of delays due to increase traffic congestion. These delays are valued at $7.5M a year in added freight costs. The increase in traffic congestion will cause fuel wastage, strain supply chain demands and result in higher prices for consumers. The report estimates $10M in increased costs in goods due to freight and truck congestion. 

BCTA estimates the financial impacts in the report to be conservative.  We strongly support a strong, sustainable public transportation service in order to minimize traffic congestion and better enable predictable, affordable delivery of goods from the trucking industry.  As we have stated in the past, all added costs incurred by the trucking industry due to congestion, taxation, and fees are ultimately paid by the consumer.

Next Steps

We will continue to engage with members to assess the potential impacts these service cuts may have on operations and ensure that our industry’s concerns are heard. BCTA is currently in the process of formulating a detailed submission to TransLink, underscoring the critical necessity of establishing a sustainable financial model that guarantees predictable service levels, thereby mitigating adverse impacts on British Columbia's trucking industry. We will continue to update on any developments.

The Economic Impacts of Potential Service Cuts report is available here.