Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO: Standing Committee on Transportation and Traffic

FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services in Consultation with the Director of City Plans

SUBJECT: TransLink: Regional Strategic Transportation Plan

INFORMATION

COUNCIL POLICY

Council approved a Transportation Plan that requires transit to accommodate future increases in travel demand.

Council has adopted CityPlan, the Livable Region Strategic Plan, and the Regional Transportation Plan (Transport 2021).

PURPOSE

This report discusses TransLink's process for developing a regional Strategic Transportation Plan (STP).

BACKGROUND

TransLink (formerly the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority) is required, by statute, to prepare an STP by September 2000. The Plan must address the Regional Transportation System as defined in the GVTA Act, including all regional roads, bridges, transit, rail rapid transit, ferry routes, cycle paths, transportation demand management (TDM), goods movement, AirCare and other facilities.

On March 24, 1999, the TransLink Board authorized staff to prepare the STP, with a January 2000 target completion date for the first substantive draft. A final plan is expected to be available by March 2000.

The process details are contained in the attached March 17, 1999 TransLink report "The Strategic Transportation Plan Preliminary Contents and Work Program".

PURPOSE AND VISION

Developing an STP is a fundamental first step for TransLink. Due to the tight time frame, and current uncertainties (e.g. regarding the ability to pay for new services), the first plan is not intended to be a major review of the long term direction of the transportation system. Rather, it is primarily intended to provide a clear practical statement of what will be done in the next five years, in order to move towards the long term vision previously outlined in Transport 2021 and other legacy documents. Therefore, though the STP will provide a long-term context, it will be much more focused on guiding significant short-term decisions regarding the Annual Program Plans and Budgets.

The plan is intended to offer an affordable program of services and investments that would meet the needs of all users, including transit customers, car drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and commercial traffic. Attachments A and B of the attached TransLink report outline the planned STP structure and supporting technical reports.

It is proposed that the STP process be part of a stable planning cycle. The plan would be reviewed at least every three years, with a major review every six years, and reflect updates to the Livable Region Strategic Plan and municipal plans (e.g. Transit Area Plans).

PROCESS

The process for developing the STP would be generally as follows:

1. Develop/Refine the Vision

2. Produce An Evaluation Framework

3. Evaluate System Scenarios

4. Recommend Draft STP for Stakeholder Review

5. TransLink Board Approval

This is a very abbreviated sketch of the process. More details are available on pages 6 to 9 of the attached report.

STAKEHOLDER INPUT

An "open and transparent" process is proposed with involvement by the general public, interest groups, the Province, and Federal Government. Municipalities would be involved through TransLink's interaction with municipal Councils, the Regional Council of Councils, and regional staff committees such as the Transit Technical Advisory Committee and Major Roads Technical Advisory Committee. Other agencies such as the Airport and the Port of Vancouver would also be included. TransLink's Public Advisory committee would help develop the consultation process.

There are plans to establish a separate advisory committee to assist in guiding the technical work of the STP. The committee would be composed of senior staff from agencies including the municipalities, GVRD, appropriate provincial agencies, Transport Canada and other interested parties such as the Gateway Council.

DISCUSSION

TransLink is embarking on an important new planning exercise with a commitment to a strong stakeholder consultation process. City staff will be participating wherever possible to ensure Council transportation priorities are strongly represented in the STP process. TheCity's Transportation Plan will be the main basis for measuring how well the STP meets City needs, and a major focus will be increasing transit use to meet the City's mode split targets. This would include addressing crowding, better frequencies/reliability, more express routes, and replacing/expanding the trolley bus fleet.

Regarding regional financial planning, the STP will address new revenue sources and the relative funding requirements and priorities between competing elements of the transportation system (e.g. roads vs. buses); however another important issue is the relationship or relative priority of regional spending on transportation versus other regional/municipal needs (e.g. sewer/water, environment, health, social services, etc). Essentially everything is funded out of the same taxpayer base, so the overall funding environment will have to be considered. This was not addressed directly in the TransLink report, but staff will ensure sure this is introduced into the work program.

The schedule for developing the STP poses many challenges. There are eight months to produce a draft for January 2000, and City staff resources are already strained due to other major transportation planning activities e.g. SkyTrain and Rapidbus. The attached TransLink report raises the possibility of the City seconding staff to the STP project team. Given other staff commitments, this may be an unrealistic expectation. Should this be pursued further by TransLink, the matter would be reported to Council. Staff will also report to Council as required, to advise of developments and to seek Council input and direction.

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