Returning from the meeting of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Mayor Patricia Heintzman said the district council had a busy week educating new ministers on the needs of Squamish.
Heintzman said the meeting was positive, a chance to speak with new faces from the province’s NDP government.
Those discussions included talking with Transportation Minister Claire Trevena on the possibility of a public transit link between Squamish and Metro Vancouver. “The new minister seems very keen on figuring out how to do regional transit, broadly across the province, but I think the Sea to Sky is first,” Heintzman said on Monday.
She said the need for a link between the two communities is an “obvious one” and commuters and vacationers alike are currently limited for transportation. Right now using a private vehicle, corporate shuttle or taking a Greyhound bus are the only options.
Heintzman said Greyhound has been continually reducing service and has opposed requests to make stops in communities like Britannia Beach. Earlier this year Greyhound proposed to cut routes connecting Pemberton with Mt. Currie and Victoria with Nanaimo.
Heintzman said after talks at the UBCM she is “very hopeful” about the transit link being announced in the provincial budget, which will be released February 2018.
“They’ve been really open and collaborative,” she said of the new government. “The reality will come when they need to find money for all these things. The nice thing about UBCM is communities from across the province come and they’re so down to earth about what they’re trying to achieve for their communities.”
Heintzman said there are several options on how to pay for the system that need to be discussed, including utilizing B.C.’s carbon tax or a gas tax similar to TransLink’s 17 cents per litre gas tax.
The Transit Future Plan, released in 2015 by BC Transit, pegged the cost of running a weekday regional route at $800,000. The report’s current goal is implementing a weekday bus schedule from Squamish to Metro Vancouver by 2020.
Heintzman said that time line isn’t fast enough.
“We’re trying to ramp up what BC Transit is saying,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to see something come together in the next six months.”
Last year BC Transit conducted a public consultation on the issue.
“We recognize the desire for transit services along the Sea to Sky Corridor, and look forward to continuing to work with the Province of BC and our local government partners on this work,” said BC Transit spokesperson Jonathon Dyck in an email.
While the bus link would give residents more options, Heintzman said all three levels of government will need to think long-term in order to connect the growing Vancouver workforce living in Squamish.
“Down the road, need a high-capacity solution: ferry or light train. Buses can only remove around 40 people,” she said.
– With files from Steven Chua
