Good morning, Chair Pallister and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I am going to pick up on a point made by the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, but first let me just explain what TransLink is.
The Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, as we are known here, is TransLink. We are a unique entity that was created in 1999 by the B.C. legislature. We plan, we finance, and we manage the assets of one of the largest public transportation authorities in Canada. In addition to the traditional transit services and commuter services, we also manage the major road network in Greater Vancouver, and we are also responsible for the management of our air emissions testing.
Greater Vancouver is a federation of 21 municipalities; it has a population of 2.2 million people. It is the third largest urban region in Canada.
We believe that strategic investments in public transportation are critical to maintaining Canada's competitive edge in the global economy, and we applaud the federal government for the initiative that has been shown and the programs that have been put forward in recent years.
To give you a sense of the support we're receiving here, over the next five years we will see the investment of $1 billion from the Government of Canada through our agency alone. That has made the critical difference in our being able to proceed with a rapid transit project, Canada Line, that will connect Richmond, the airport, and downtown Vancouver. That project had been on our books for more than 20 years in this region, and it's now being made possible through this contribution.
In addition to that, we're moving forward to purchase new buses. We have 225 new buses that are going to be purchased through the gas tax transfer program. The new public transit agreement is going to assist us further with more assets.
We're very excited about the public transit capital trust program. We're still waiting to work through the specific details of that here in British Columbia, but we believe it will also make a contribution.
Strengthening and expanding public transportation networks reduces traffic congestion; improves the movement of goods, people and services; and provides direct and indirect economic returns for us.
Greater Vancouver in particular is strategically located at the Pacific gateway to Canada's Asian trading partners; investing in transportation in B.C.'s Lower Mainland will be crucial to the long-term economic success of the whole country.
It is estimated that by 2031 the population of this region will be at least three million. Those are modest estimates. In that same timeframe we anticipate growth in the ports will triple, but we also recognize that the population of this region will be aging. We'll have a lot more seniors who will become much more dependent on public transportation.
We support the call that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canadian Urban Transit Association, and others have made to see a permanent national program to provide long-term funding for public transportation initiatives.
While the need for transportation infrastructure is critical, we would also ask you to give some consideration to the operating and maintenance costs. Every new bus we acquire needs people to service it, and there are fuel costs that go with it. I know one of the challenges across our country is finding the revenues to keep the system running. Municipal transportation agencies need access to sustainable tax revenues that are commensurate with their increasing responsibilities as the economy and the population continue to grow.
Finally, I just want to again compliment and congratulate the government for putting forward an initiative to encourage people to use public transportation. Concerning the tax credit, while we're just coming off the end of the first quarter in which the tax credit has been in place and haven't finalized our books yet, we're also recognizing that we've seen a lift in the purchase of monthly passes; we believe there certainly may be links to this. I can't report numbers today, but we're encouraged by it.
We would also call on the government to think about going a step further. We have other programs--employer pass programs--in which the company can work with their employees to provide passes. We have 15,000 people in this region who are part of that program. We would hope the government would consider extending some tax exemptions to that program.
In conclusion, we are very grateful for the role the Government of Canada is playing in the development of public transportation in Greater Vancouver. We hope we can make this a permanent partnership.
Thank you very much.