Mayors’ Council set to vote on work plan in support of 10-Year Transportation Priorities

On Thursday, the first Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation meeting of the year is happening. The Mayors’ Council and the TransLink board set the organization’s direction.

One of the items on the agenda will be to endorse this year’s work plan of the Mayors’ Council. Getting the Mayors’ Council’s 10-Year Priorities Transportation Plan moved from paper to delivery is what the proposed 2023 work plan will focus on if approved by the region’s mayors.

The key priorities currently are:

• Developing a sustainable funding strategy for TransLink
• Expanding local, RapidBus, and Bus Rapid Transit services
  

  Priority Routes	RapidBus Candidate?	BRT Candidate?
  King George Blvd to White Rock	Yes - Extension from Newton	Yes
  Lynn Valley – Downtown/Lonsdale (via Lions Gate)	Yes	Yes
  Marine Dr Station – 22nd St Station	Yes	Yes
  Langley – Haney Place (via Golden Ears)	Yes	Yes
  Coquitlam – Haney Place (via Lougheed)	In operation	Yes
  Hastings Street	In operation	Yes
  Richmond Centre – Metrotown	In planning	Yes
  Scott Road	Opening 2023	Yes

• Moving forward with North Shore Rapid Transit
• Building the Burnaby Mountain Gondola
• Start moving TransLink’s operations to net zero, including replacing conventional diesel, diesel-hybrid, and compressed natural gas buses
• Completing a climate change risk assessment of crucial TransLink infrastructure, and developing a strategy to reduce those risks
• Working with the Metro Vancouver Regional District to create policies that support a 65% reduction in GHG emissions from cars, vans, SUVs, and pickups by 2030
• Creating a funding program for local governments to build out the Major Bikeway Network
  

  

  Map of TransLink’s Major Bikeway Network. Select the map to enlarge.

• Developing the express transit service plan covering the Sea to Sky region to the eastern Fraser Valley
• Continuing to develop new technologies to support Mobility-as-a-Service
• Supporting the province’s plan to extend SkyTrain to UBC

It will be interesting to see if there will be any changes to the work plan proposed at Thursday’s Mayors’ Council meeting.