Vancouver transit advocates frustrated over funding ‘reallocated’

The federal budget is out, and local transit advocates criticize that funding used to support long-term transit goals in Canada is being moved to other areas.

An unknown portion of the Canada Public Transit Fund will now be reallocated to the newly launched Build Communities Strong Fund, according to the federal Department of Finance.

Movement, a Vancouver-based public transit advocate group, says the news is disappointing as the country needs to properly invest in public transit.

Denis Agar, the executive director of Movement, tells 1130 NewsRadio that an investment in public transit is also an effort to reduce the cost of living.

“People spend $10,000, $15,000 a year on their car, and transit can save that for them,” Agar said.

“It can help them get to more affordable housing further out.”

He stresses the importance of funding major projects, like the SkyTrain Surrey Langley extension, the extension to UBC, and the gondola going up Burnaby Mountain to the SFU campus in the city.

He says that public transit is popular among residents and that people use it once it has been built.

“When the feds invest in more transit, people are going to start using it right away. It’s going to start making their lives better. It’s going to get them to where they’re going more reliably, so it’s urgent,” Agar explained.

He also calls out the government for neglecting Western Canadian transit systems altogether.

“We need more investment in public transit, not just the high-speed rail from Ontario to Quebec. We need public transit in Western Canada, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver,” he added.

“This is what will save money for our residents, our transit riders, people who wish they could ride transit if it were better.”

The feds say they will invest three billion dollars per year in Canada’s public transit.

Agar says that that amount is too little.

“That buys about 3 kilometers per year of Subway or Skytrain or something. That’s not enough for a country that has grown so much in the last decade, and it’s certainly not enough to cover the things we need in Metro Vancouver.”

With files from David Nadalini.