British Columbia Cycling Coalition: Urge Your Mayor to Vote for Transit and Cycling Funding

On October 7, the Metro Vancouver Mayors Council will be voting on the funding package for TransLink’s Moving Forward Plan. This package includes an increase in cycling funding from $3 million to $6 million per year, a key step to the $23 million per year that TransLink is proposing to met regional transportation goals. Please email or phone them (contact information is below) and urge them to vote for this plan.

It also includes badly needed transit improvements all over the region that will benefit cyclists. In particular, the Evergreen Line will make it much easier to access the TriCities from other parts of the region. According to TransLink "By 2014, annual bus and SeaBus service will increase by 415,000 hours, or 7%, providing more service around the region to improve reliability, reduce crowding and serve new demand from population growth and the expanded U-Pass BC program."

As an interim measure to allow these improvements to go ahead, the Moving Forward funding package contains a provisional small increase in property taxes that will go into effect next spring if other sources of revenue are not found. Even if new sources are not found, the property tax increase involves only a commitment for 2012 and 2013.

Source: TransLink

As shown in the chart in red as New Revenue Source, this represents only 13% of the total revenue. While this is a concern, the Provincial Government has committed to working with the mayors to develop alternate funding sources including road pricing, tolls on existing bridges vehicle levies and carbon tax revenue. Depending on the implementation, in addition to raising revenue to fund better transportation choices, these funding measures can reduce demand for driving and thus help existing roads to be used more efficiently thus reducing pollution and congestion.

Transit is Good for the Whole Region

While not all cities in the region get the same levels of transit improvement, these improvements benefit everyone in the region. Pollution and greenhouse gas emissions do not observe city boundaries. Residents of the region also travel between cities in their daily lives. The region’s economy depends on cost effective sustainable transportation to give people transportation choices and to enable for the efficient movement of goods by reducing the need for travel by automobile. As well, the cities whose mayors haven’t yet committed to voting for Moving Forward have benefited more from past improvements paid for by all taxpayers.

Email or Phone Your Mayor

Please email or phone your mayor and urge them to vote for the Moving Forward funding package. Consider including:

- What transit and cycling improvements mean for you, your family and community

- A statement that you will encourage the province to work with the mayors find other sources of revenue

Letter Writing Tips

http://bccyclingcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/09/writing-letters-to-elected-officials.html

Their phone and fax numbers and addresses can be found at:
http://www.metrovancouver.org/boards/BoardMembersPageDocs/Board_Directors_Contact_Information.pdf

Mayor Derek Corrigan, mayor.corrigan@burnaby.ca

Mayor Malcolm Brodie, mbrodie@richmond.ca

Langley Township - Rick Green, rgreen@tol.bc.ca

Delta - Mayor Lois Jackson, LJackson@corp.delta.bc.ca

Mayor Darrell Mussatto, dmussatto@cnv.org

Pitt Meadows - Mayor Don MacLean, dmaclean@pittmeadows.bc.ca