B.C. has left the option of a vehicle levy to fund TransLink on the table, despite contradictory comments last week that it may be disallowed.
Premier David Eby confirmed the vehicle levy is one of a suite of ideas the government will discuss.
“These are not easy conversations,” he said in an interview with BIV. “We’re trying to leave as much on the table as we go.”
He said Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth is “trying to be as open-minded as possible” about TransLink funding, including the levy.
Eby’s government promised TransLink a new funding source by 2027, as part of a $312 million bailout it announced last month to prevent major cuts to bus, Skytrain and Seabus services.
Eby at first seemed to rule both mobility pricing and a vehicle levy as funding possibilities during an exchange in question period last week, but in an interview confirmed his refusal only concerns mobility pricing.
Ironically, the B.C. government’s decision to double-down in disallowing mobility pricing comes after a New York Times investigation found it is working in that city.
New York enacted a $9 congestion fee in January for vehicle drivers entering Manhattan. It was a first-of-its-kind tolling program in the country, and the goal was to push people into transit and raise money for transit programs.
After four months, data shows the congestion fee has reduced the number of cars on streets, traffic speeds, peak commute times, car crashes, injuries, fire response times and school bus delays.
It has also generated $45 million in the first few months, towards a planned $15 billion in transit upgrades over several years.
But the move remains contentious in New York, which was originally going to try the idea in 2024 and then backed off at the last minute due to public sentiment. U.S. President Donald Trump is fighting the measure and has ordered the city to stop. The matter is currently in court.
That same political pressure exists on the BC NDP government if it was to try congestion pricing, road tolls or other methods of fining drivers for being on the roads in certain Metro Vancouver communities at certain times.
“We’re not looking at mobility pricing or congestion pricing,” Eby said again on Monday.
“We need to really find ways to sustainability fund transit. There are lots of innovative ways.”
Eby pointed to additional measures of funding through property and housing development, as well as development of land in transit hubs.
But he also admitted “the key for us is to ensure that stability of funding” to keep the transit system growing.
“The minister of transportation wants to be able to work with TransLink with as many options as possible on the table for funding transit in a sustainable way,” said Eby.
“Revenues from gas are going down, transit costs are increasing, so finding that stable way that doesn’t rely on annual government allowances, that doesn’t rely on an annual back and forth.”
Mayors had previously asked the province for a slice of the carbon tax revenue, but the government ended the consumer carbon tax in April.
Other provinces have started to tax, or increase taxes, on electric vehicles so that EV owners who avoid transit and road improvement fees levied on gas prices still pitch in to fund the system.
The premier also pointed to the new federal government, and its potential support for transit.
“We’ll see what the federal government’s plan is,” he said.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Lodestar Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
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