NO matter which party seizes the legislature on May 14, its MLAs are going to be greeted with the gargantuan task of reforming TransLink.
The public utility's governance model operates to the satisfaction of no one, and the body has no long-term funding strategy, according to District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton, chairman of TransLink's mayors' council.
Decisions about service and infrastructure projects are made by the appointed TransLink board, mostly behind closed doors and without meaningful consultation with the mayors' council, Walton said.
The council commissioned a study into other transit systems around the world and concluded that TransLink is "unique and not in a good way," Walton said.
The mayors' council used to hold the reins of the organization, but the province reworked the body and gave the decision-making power to an appointed board of experts five years ago, leaving the mayors blindsided.
Returning to the old model may not be realistic because of the tremendous amount of work sorting through details might be too much for already busy mayors to be do the job properly, Walton said.
Then there's the matter of funding the behemoth.
"The demand on the system is growing but there's only enough money to continue the level of service it's at right now," Walton said.
The only method for municipalities to fund transit is through property taxes but the mayors' council recently put forward a list of alternative ways TransLink could raise money including: road and bridge tolling, vehicle levies, or a regional sales tax.
Premier Christy Clark announced two weeks ago that the long-term funding model would be decided by voters in a referendum to be held in 2014, which left the mayors' council baffled, Walton said.
"I don't see the current government having a serious collaborative approach to solving the problem in the region. It's quite disappointing actually," he said. "The Liberals have not indicated any significant policy positions that I've heard of during the election."
But, lest he be painted as a secret New Democrat partisan, Walton said that party's suggestions of using the carbon tax to fund transit also lacks detail.
"I think most of us are just looking for good policy. At this point, I've not heard any detail on any NDP platform that leads me to believe they've done further thinking either. Whichever government's elected, we're starting from square one."
Candidates vying for the North Vancouver-Seymour seat can all agree that change is needed, especially in the servicing that the riding gets, but just how things should change and who should pay is a matter of debate.
For B.C. Conservative Brian Wilson, getting rid of the "mucky-mucks making big bucks" at the top is the first step. As for how TransLink can become financially viable, Wilson said he would like to see a higher portion of operating costs covered by riders before going after homeowners or car drivers.
"People driving cars and people living in their homes shouldn't be subsidizing somebody else's transportation. That's the way I feel," he said.
Jane Thornthwaite, B.C. Liberal incumbent, said she doesn't necessarily agree with her party leader's plan for a referendum on funding, but said there should be more options outside higher property taxes.
"Property tax is not very popular, obviously, on the North Shore considering our properties are very high value," she said.
Thornthwaite said she would like to see a hybrid decision-making model that involves the existing board, the province and the mayors.
NDP challenger Jim Hanson could not offer a method to retool the governance model but said increases in service should be funded from the carbon tax.
"I think the carbon trust should be eliminated and the carbon tax should be directed to green initiatives, such as TransLink and public transit so people are able to get around and we have a more livable community, and secondly so we can reduce out greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
After first going after serious cost savings in TransLink's operation, the strategy ought to be to increase revenues by increasing ridership, said independent Jaime Webbe. "I'm not supportive of road taxes or car taxes. I don't like the idea of taxing cars to pay for transit. I think there does need to be better attention to the fare system," she said.
"I think the current fare system we have is not encouraging ridership on the shorter routes and more could be done to adjust the fare system to increase revenues that way."
The governance system for TransLink should be "more participatory," involving not only the mayors but also the users, the bus drivers who see the system on the frontlines, said Webbe.
