The following letter was sent to the Mayors’ Council and Christy Clark.
We are very pleased that you have voted to contribute to the Evergreen Line and additional transit upgrades through a gas tax increase of 2 cents, along with the possibility of other measures such as a vehicle registration fee and road pricing.
The Sustainable Transportation Coalition fully supports you in your bold initiative to develop a range of funding sources to allow TransLink to complete the 2040 plan and create a truly sustainable transportation system for our region. We are also committed to creating a positive vision for our region’s transportation future and to building public support for the forward-thinking transportation policies needed to achieve that vision.
On May 18th we held an interactive transit funding workshop with over 50 key participants from transportation-related business and community organizations across the region, to envision potential funding sources for the 2040 plan. The consensus of the group was that decisive action by the province was necessary to move forward. The top three choices for funding options were: 1) Post-2012 Carbon Tax revenue, 2) A vehicle registration fee, and 3) Road and bridge pricing. Overwhelmingly, participants felt that using existing carbon tax revenue was “saleable” in the region, followed by strong support for a vehicle registration fee and for smart road and bridge pricing.
We thank you for taking the lead on this issue. We pledge to help mobilize public opinion in support of a diverse range of options for long-term, sustainable funding transit in the region.
Sincerely,
Sustainable Transportation Coalition
Peter Ladner
Fellow, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University; Former board member, TransLink
Gordon Price
Director, City Program, Simon Fraser University
Tanya Paz
Business Development Director, Modo The Car Co-op
Jack Becker
President, Third Wave Cycling Group
Kevin Washbrook
Director, Voters Taking Action on Climate Change
Richard Campbell
Richard Campbell, Vice President, VeloWorks Cycling Society
John Calimente
Transportation Planner; Columnist for Spacing Vancouver Magazine
Margaret Mahan
Executive Director, BEST Better Environmentally Sound Transportation
Wayne De Angelis
Regional Director, BC & the Yukon, Architecture Canada
Brent Elliott
Chair, South Coast Chapter, Planning Institute of BC
Matt Horne
Director, B.C. Energy Solutions, Pembina Institute
Nathan Pachal
Director, South Fraser OnTrax Transportation Advocacy Society
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