The NDP’s Translink critic says yesterdays Expo line breakdown is another sign of the Provincial government mismanaging the transit utility.
George Heyman says funding shortfalls might not be entirely to blame for the Expo line Skytrain breakdown, but ... "We know that the Liberal government under Christy Clark ordered an audit and ordered Translink to cut back in everyway possible. We also know that the Liberals own appointed board said that some of the measures recomended by that audit clearly showed that the auditors didn't understand the transit system."
Heyman says funding challenges facing Translink need to be solved sooner rather than later.
"Translink cannot make commitments to match available federal funds past the year 2014 because they can't be sure they can match those funds. We need to make decisions about funding the model and unfortunately the Liberals are stuck on a referendum that will mean a further delay in decision making about funding models."
To add to the urgency Heyman says if a transit funding model is not established soon the province stands to lose a significant amount of federal cash.
"We risk losing over a 122 million dollars a year in federal matching funds that can and will be reallocated to other purposes if Translink can't agree to match it because they have no secure source of funding."
He says putting off a funding solution to next fall or later will also cost taxpayers more in the long term for transit projects as construction costs and interest rates rise.