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From the Vancouver Sun
The rising cost of fuel is driving TransLink's ridership numbers higher, but it's also propelling the cost of running Metro Vancouver's transit system to new levels.
In addition, high fuel prices may reduce the amount of revenue TransLink gets from fuel taxes as vehicle owners try to reduce their fuel consumption, vice-president Ian Jarvis said Tuesday.
"As people drive less and drive more economical vehicles, that has a negative impact on us," Jarvis said after TransLink released its 2007 annual report.
Ridership jumped 4.2 per cent last year over 2006 and that translates into higher revenues but not high enough to cover the increased cost of fuel.
Diesel fuel costs for buses are projected to reach $50.8 million this year, up from $37.6 million in 2007. At the same time, fuel-tax revenue - currently fixed at 12 cents per litre - is expected to increase only slightly, from $267.7 million to $268 million.
Jarvis said it is not possible to say exactly how fuel costs affected ridership, either in 2007, when diesel fuel prices fell, or 2008, which has already seen a significant rise in fuel prices.
Last year, with diesel prices slightly lower, the region's booming economy helped push up TransLink's revenue from fuel taxes. Combined with lower debt-servicing costs, that translated into better-than-expected financial results.
"Combining those credits with federal tax credits for transit passes and a return to the region of federal fuel taxes in 2007, TransLink was able to buy more buses more quickly and replace older vehicles with clean-burning diesels and zero-emission electric trolleys," TransLink said in the annual report.
TransLink said it ran a surplus of $88 million in 2007, bringing its accumulated surplus to $408 million.
However, TransLink chairman Dale Parker told the agency's annual general meeting the surplus will disappear by 2012, requiring TransLink to find new sources of revenue.
Parker said real estate development near transit hubs could produce a portion of those funds.
Translink revenues totalled more than $912 million in 2007. Of that, transit fares and advertising contributed $327.7 million and fuel taxes $267.7 million, while property taxes and other levies brought in $301.1 million.
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