Mayor and Council cont'd...

The majority of the B.C. transit deficit today stems from the operations of
B.C, Hydro in Greater Vancouver and Greater Victoria, If all the transit
deficits are pooled Province-wide, municipalities in Greater Vancouver can
expect to bear most of the cost. Nearly one-half the cost would be levied on
the property tax base of member municipalities,

With the creation of a Provincial Transit Authority we could expect that all
municipalities in the interior will] want their own bus service. No doubt these
local areas will get preference and priority over the more pressing problems of
the urban metro areas because they wil? out-vote the metro areas on the Provin-
cial Authority. We perceive a rather bleak outlook for all of us if an Urban
Transit Authority is constituted the way it has been suggested.

The deficits in Greater Vancouver and Victoria will skyrocket
as buses slow down in traffic, and there will be no opportunity
to coordinate road and transit expenditures--our overall
transportation situation will continue to get worse and cost

more, .

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Deficits will grow as new services are introduced into non-
metropolitan areas, where the transit riding habit is not estab-
lished and operating costs will be much higher than farebox
revenues.

The metropolitan areas will be committed to picking up the
majority of the deficit of the whole Province,

The Province will probably maintain total control over capital
expenditures thereby limiting our ability to deal with the total]
“Scope of transportation problems within the Regiton--we wil] pay
but have little say.

Unless the municipalities of Greater Vancouver, and perhaps Greater Victoria,
are united on their stand, the Transportation Committee believe that the
Greater Vancouver municipalities will be saddled with a cost that starts at
25-30 million dollars in 1978, and grows each year afterwards, with virtually
no say as to how this money is spent.

Furthermore we will have lost a further Opportunity to establish an appropriate
organization with a strong local voice that could solve the complex problems of
transportation in our area comprehensively.