Why Public Transit is Better

the autism in Australia. Thanks to Michael's rearranging on the Community Living podcasts and his sharing sharing of my clip to Poulising Rights Podcasts, and of course you can share and like the podcast and to subscribe to this podcast and more of some of the features that I'm working on and Michael's working on towards the pictures media Radio and anyways, on this edition of Paulsying Rights, I'm going to be talking about the focus and the differences between

Adelaide's Metro Transit and the Greater Vancouver's Translink. For an example, before I put in the two clips of both Adelaide Metro's meeting, I'm not sure they have an actual meeting or not in particular. And the translinks, I mean, they're one of their translink meetings happened earlier around the year, so I'm going to go on to that now. I mean, here are some facts about the Adelaide metro transit system. Adelaide has a frequent bus services going to in and

out of the city. They have about seven lines from the city and of course the longest line is about forty two kilometers from the city heading north. A major component of the Adelaide metro bus services is the Ogubon Guided Busway, which which carries out from Adelaide to Maudbury. It's a suburb of Welbury, carry around nine million passengers a year. From its opening date in nineteen eighty six to about to twenty eleven, this was the longest bus

railway services that links from twelve kilometers. It remains the world's fastest busway with a maximum permitted speed of ninety kilumnars per hour. Their buses carries about three operating companies, Torrents Transit Busways and Keiloi Downer which is known as SouthLink.

And finally, they do have a streetcar line going from Adelaide to the shores of Glennelle, running every ten minutes during the daytime and twenty minutes on evenings for Metro Vancouver Translink not including of course, not including major roads and bus in the Metro Vancouver has two operating companies, coost Mountain Bus Company and the municipality of West Vancouver that also has a Sea Bus, Skytrain and West Coast Express.

I for myself as a writer, I've been writing on public transit services for both sides of Vancouver and in Adelaide. Now here's the difference between the two. Translink is funded by the local government, city governments in Metro Vancouver and the provincial government, whereas Adelaide Metro is funded by Adelaide

and the South Australian government. Translinke Metro buses in Metro Vancouver are equipped with machine ramp for disabled wheelchair passengers, whereas Metro Adelaide Adelaide Metro drivers have to get off the cab the driver's cab to lift the handle and unfold the ramp for wheelchair passengers. If you live in the suburbs, some of the buses will do operate every thirty minutes on weekends. In Metro Vancouver, whereas Adelaide will

run every sixty minutes on weekends. Adelaide Metro buses do not carry bike racks on front of the buses, whereas Translink buses will have bike racks in front of the buses. As for the train services, if you were to ride on Adelaide Metro to the suburbans on weekends, mostly they will operate from every thirty to sixty minutes, depending on

your destination. If you're going from Adelaide to the northern part of the suburban of Gower, it will be every thirty minutes, heading back thirty minutes and heading back to the city. It can be either the local stops or the express bus. If you're saying you're going to stop closer the city from that area, say Killbourn, it would

leave about every sixty minutes on weekends. Unless you're living to the southern part of the city, whereas my mother and I are living at most of the trains will be leading We'll be leaving every thirty minutes with an express service to Adelaide. Because there's a second line that goes towards Flinders on the same line, splitting the line into rain in the middle of the section of the line.

Another thing to note on Michael's going to be listening to it, or if anybody's listening to podcast is in the Metro Vancouver area where if you were to take a bus from the southern part of Metro Vancouver, say for example, you're leaving from white Rock to Langley, and you would can't take the bus five point thirty one to take from the metro city of white Rock over to the city of Langling and it will take you about forty minutes down there. Adelaide is completely different. Let

me tell you that. Anyways, in Adelaide, if you wanted to, say, for example, want to leave from Scheidale Park or Helicove Beach going towards Mount Barker area, chances are you're going to take a train over to the city first and then take another bus that goes connected to Mount Barker, And of course the distance will be for that time on weekends will be about close to about two hours, whereas by car, if you weren't going to towards the city,

it would be about forty five minutes. That's that's a that's not not right, because I'm I'm of course I am a transit passengerurnal I do want to do some things for Mount Barker and especially if I wanted to do this this proadcast to another radio UH community partners

with with with Mount Barker area. If I wanted to do some some stuff, and I mean, I'd probably not be the only one who's going to be doing this, because I've probably mentioned from other people that they do live in the suburban areas that they don't want to have a bus that goes right towards the city linking another bus to Mount Barker. So so there you go. Some

suggestions I did mention. One suggestion is to have a rapid bus leave from the train service from Seaford and leave from the Seaford area going towards Port Adelaide via

Commercial Yes there is a commercial Dyson Road Lonsdale. Yes there is a Linsdale, but it's not the key like in North Vancouver Brighton Road stopping areas in Glen can you change airport and to the station to port station in Port Adelaide without entering the city of Adelaide for that matter, Or again, another bus leaving from Seaford to

Mount Barker going through not going through the city. There are six inner regions in Metro Adelaide in of course it's the Outer South, North, South, East, West, Outer North, Outer Northwest and the Hills. Not one bus will leave from Outer South and going across the hills for bus leaving to the Hills, going from the Hills to Outer North.

And don't get me started with the regional buses. If I were wanting to go see my grandaunt who lives in murray Bridge, again, I would have to do the usual train or bus to the city, take another bus going to Mount Barker, and then one of the regional buses that'll go to murray Bridge. Keep in mind on weekends the only about operate about three trips per day on Saturdays and two trips on Sundays. Very difficult. And

I love my grandaunt so much. I think she's about ninety six or ninety seventy years old now and she's part of my life, part of my mom's life as well. So there you go. I didn't get started on the angel buses. I did mention about that. Of course, those are the two different on both Adelaide and Vancouver. So now I'm going to give you two clips of the.

people who may be with us this evening. The Council acknowledges the vision of Colonel William Light in determining the site for Adelaide and the design of the city with its six squares and surrounding built of continuous park lands, which is recognized on the National Heritage List as one of the greatest examples of Australia's planning heritage. We pray for wisdom courage, empathy and understanding and guidance in the decisions that we make while seeking and respecting the opinions

of others. Maybe in this meeting, speak honestly, listen, attentively, think clearly, and decide wisely for the good governance of the city of Adelaide and the well being of those we serve. I now ask all present to stand in silence in memory of those who gave their lives in defense of their country at sea, on land, and in the air. So we had two apologies this evening, one

from Councilor Chorus and one from Councilor Abrahim Zaday. In terms of the confirmation of minutes, because there were several meetings conducted on the eighth of the fourth, the fourteenth of the fourth, and the fifteenth of the fourth, there are actually I think five minutes.

Counselor Martin, seconded by Councilor Snape. Is there in debate on.

It is an important subject and look, I want to be the first to acknowledge that social media is an invaluable tool for elected members in order to convey the decisions of council and to participate in community discussions generally. But Lord Mayor, and I'm speaking generally about local government in South Australia in my comments here. But Lord Mayor, some terrible misinformation appears in social media from time to time.

Some of it is well, it's misinformation and it has the potential to destroy confidence in point of topic institutions like local government.

to the community and to the Council. And the best way to do that is to invite Warman lawyers to conduct a session that will point out to us the pitfalls and ways in which we can make social media a positive tool for the City of Adelaide and for local government in South Australia. It's just a training session. I don't expect it to solve problems World Peace.

I think we have a nomination, but we can't vote because the councilor Martin will have to leave the room and then we will be in quorate. So I'm going to have to adjourn the meeting because the quorum collapses. I'm sorry. So we're going to seek an adjournment of that item, and you could vote for a German I suppose, but all those in favor of adjournment, I'm sorry. Five minutes. Yes, we could wait for five minutes, but I don't. Can I just take advice. I don't believe he's going to

come back. I'm sorry for the gallery. We're just trying to work out the location of our council. So fourteen point two. This was dependent I think on the Deputy Lord Mayor's position. Oh sorry, this is a proxy. I apologize. So is anyone prepared to be the proxy council member for the ordered to risk? It has no remuneration.

and joyful group of people. The festival was a great boon to the city in terms of economic benefit and interestingly, many of the people at the football also enjoyed the Shahuli experience. I have to remind you that the outdoor exhibition closes on Tuesday, April the twenty ninth, and you still have a chance to visit either during the day

or in the evening. I was really delighted to go to the openings of new businesses in the city, and if you haven't attended these premises, please go to Reno's on Pirie Street, which has a stellar menu and a great kitchen. It's very close to the town Hall and it's one of our locals. I also went to the opening of Mr Sad Thompson's Plant and Landscaping store in Gillis Street and you can buy everything from wicking beds

to foods for plants. I recommend it. I should mention that Reno's is a great addition to the real Side property. Revamped forty five Pirie Street. It's one of our reuse projects in the city. With reuse and upgrading the building, it saved more than fifty thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to taking eighty five thousand return flights

from Sydney to Adelaide. I also attended the Local Government Association's Metropolitan Mayor's Forum, which brought together mayors from across the metro area. Could I ask someone to move my report be received? Councilor Giles moved, Counselor Snape seconded, all those in favor with those against. Thank you members. I now move on to the council members reports. There is a recommendation, but would anyone like to comment on their activities? Nope?

Could someone move the recommendation? Then move by counselor Snape secreted by Counselor siventrit any comments, if not all those in favor all those against. That's carried. Thank you members.

will host the event. Australia and Turkey are said to be the main competitors.

local economy during the days of COP thirty one. It is so big, in fact, that it will have to be held at multiple venues, and I understand that there's already discussion about harnessing Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Convention Center and perhaps venues smaller such as the town Hall, in order to get all of the delegates into all of the sisions.

But of course the city will have to be ready, and that means a role for the City of Adelaide in making sure that arrangements like access and even just services such that we provide currently are going to be able to cope with such.

a serious event. So not only does it present an opportunity for many people visiting the city, but we will have global leaders from around the world coming together, coming into Adelaide to be part of this process. And it won't just be in the immediate time around the event. It'll be in the year leading up and about the you would expect at least the six months afterwards.

So I would use this, this position and this pulpit to urge the state government to walk for walk and not just talk to talk, and don't to be a cop out.

leader in being able to provide us advice. We met as a group of government representatives last week and we have our first official working group meeting with broader stakeholders tomorrow, which includes our effectively important volunteer groups, including the South Australian Native Foreigner Rescue, who have been effectively manning Brundle Mall nightly to be able to support birds who are

doing bird strike. We're also, as Counselor Davis mentioned, we've received device from Professor Chris Daniels who said we should look at removing the netting in Lee Street for four trees, and we will start that piece of work tomorrow morning through mister Hudiros's team. We've also had our place coordinators down in Lee Street today talking to the owners of the businesses to make sure that they're aware of our

activities in that space. And we are just looking at other opportunities in terms of adjusting lighting in and around the infrastructure and Rundell Mall, as well as supporting an of the retailers for any additional window treatments which could include deckling in terms of that space.

The reason for some of the bird netting is the advice from Green Adelaide is that if you remove the netting, the birds won't go back because they're roosting somewhere else, and it's a period in the cycle of seasonal activity that they're locked into where they want to go at a moment, so that would actually tie in with their recommendations more clearly the counselors even do you want some questions to ask.

a motion that's come forward. This is a proactive council that's been dealing with this. And then we just added those points at the bottom that need attention.

numbers are increasing. So I think that checking out can missus redis don't we have an urban ecology strategy?

up the urban environment. The tree Martins, as we're aware, don't roost or spend time in the parklands, and so certainly through this work in any reports, if there are amendments or inclusions we can make to existing strategies, that's something we can take as our future action.

any adverse overlap between the two. So with amendments number one, removal of five, an eight or anything else, it's there. I'd like to move the motion if I if I could, generally, unless there is any anything egregious in there, can we just I I think it's I do think it's really relevant for this council to understand how we got here.

And I understand that it could be that might contain some advice, but I do really think it's important for the Council to understand what was the process that led us to this situation, what were the assumptions that we made.

the lighting, including around adjacent infrastructure in Rundelemore. We support Rundlemore traders and retails in relation to additional window treatments, and we engage the wildlife specialist and orthohologists to help inform decision making into the future. So I think that that's occurring.

have the motion. And also in terms of number nine, my memory of this and I went back and had to look at the minutes because I wasn't sure. But this initially came from a question by Counselor about that he asked for a report to be done on the basis of the Lee Street traders complaining about the bird pooh,

excuse my French. Yeah, so yeah, it might be good for us to look examine, examin In my view, anyway to examine the way we make decisions, because if we need to understand that when you make a decision about protecting the table of diners, there might be other environmental implications that we need to also consider. So I don't have a problem with with nine, and I think that we might be able to pass this if it says that Council notes and then the whole motion.

think that we're victims of our own success. We've planted so many trees. There are more new habitats. Lee Street is a new habitat that is Rundlemore. And clearly in the future there are several things we need to do. One is look at the kinds of trees we plant, where they are, and how we manage the new biodiversity that moves into the city, because, as mister Harida said, our biodiversity surveys to date have been about the parklands, not about the city. And this has added a whole

new dimension to our problems. So I do think that the one part that I do think is important is number eleven. And I think number eleven.

to them to look after them. My assummation is that they enjoy some way they can roost, like a tree in between walled areas or a walled in area so that they are safer from prevators. And it seems like they would seek out alternative areas that are you know, match that description, which is potentially why they're not roosting

in the botanic gardens for example. But merely my guess I think the issue would be is if we start putting nets over Rundall Mall, that they could move to Gurja Street or Hut Street, or we simply move this problem on to other places. I think that the public, in looking at this motion, will be assured that the City of Adelaide is taking every step necessary to address the issues that are occurring on Roundau more that we will also look to the future in terms of how

we can address these issues in future. Ideally we can find a solution that will benefit the least street traders, but also the Rundall Mall and perhaps the tree months can showcase as a biodiversity icon in South Australian years to come. This will take a lot of work and it could actually be a coordinated effort across the city to net and encourage the birds to go into a more suitable location where they wish to wish to roost.

This will take a lot of effort by the administration and by experts to solve this problem, but no doubt an important one. The Council had concerns. I suppose that they would move, but we didn't know exactly where they would move to. So I believe that this motion we'll send a clear signal to the people of South Australia that we are taking this issue very seriously, that we're moving forward on it, and that we will look to a long term solution for lee straight and run.

fix that mistake, and we are doing so. Shouldn't have been placed there in the first place. I certainly think so. I'm certainly sympathetic to the traders on Lee Street. But I do hope to see the nets removed next year, in time well in their entire entirety, for the next season of migrations. We can't see it. Let us happen again. We talk about being a green city, environmental city, a natural city surrounded by our parklands, and yet here we

go with this situation. But as I said, that being said, I commend the staff on their hard work, their quick reaction, their conversations with the traders, the conversations with experts, and I really do despite it's happened, I commend the administration on what was a bad decision by team Adelaide. Thank you Lord.

planting so many trees. As I say, we're victim of our own success here we've planted so many trees, we've created micro environments that were never there before, and then the unintended consequence is trying to protect our rate payers.

So I think that we've many people have been involved, but at the end of the day, the administration have done the very best they can in difficult circumstances, trying to juggle everyone's wants and desires, to support the traders, to look after the birds, and actually support the volunteers. I've been absolutely overwhelmed by the care with which the volunteers have been dealt with. They have been treated with respect and helped and I just commend the administration for

the negotiations and the work they put in. So seven Tripp then counselor.

some of our successes in past tree planning. But the point I wanted to make is that's only going to continue in the future as we continue to put more trees in the city. And so the biggest lesson for me that's going to come out of these is how do we work together with scientists, with a department, with

the community. Because we will see our city go up to thirty percent tree can it becover we'd expect we're going to create a whole lot more habitat And rather than seeing this as a divisive issue, it should be one where where celebrating the fact that we have this species.

that as are the way that we go forward. I do think that we do have really tricky problems in the city when we're trying to encourage businesses to, you know, to get out there and have outdoor dining and create an atmosphere that's really beautiful for visitors and for locals to eat and drink in. And we have trees planted, and we have beautiful creatures coming in because we planted our trees, and how do we balance all those needs?

So balancing is a major issue for us as a city council that many councils don't have that same issue. So it's been a great step forward, I think to discuss this issue in a civilized manner and to come to an agreement around what acknowledging what needs to be done, and having a bit of a think about having a strategy moving forward that takes on those tricky problems, those

wicked problems in a more sophisticated way. Acknowledging that just responding to some complaints about something or some difficulties that some group is having is not the way to go if we all and if we don't also consider the ramifications and the environment around that. So I think this is a really good motion and shows that we're on track to dealing with those tricky problems. And I also think it's amazingly exciting to have these little birds in

our city. I didn't even know what a tree Martin was to like join this council, and now I do, and now I know a hell of a lot more about them, and I think it would be really great if we could play an active role as a council in making sure that everyone goes through that experience and we all get to really love our little tree mountains and become something that something that people come to Adelaide to have a look at and come to Lee Street to have a look up at as well.

I think it might be our namesake. In fact, they had a problem with bats and turn that into a significant tourist destination of about eight million dollars with the income from the state.

a council from this. Ultimately, this was our decision. We made the decision, we were brief done it last year, and the responsibility whether as me you have made the decision or administration, the buck does start with this council.

In this, with this chamber, I believe that we have a good way forward and I think that this motion will go a long way to inform in the public on terms of what the council is doing to liaise with key interest groups to make sure that we can improve the plight of the bird, and I suppose next year we will turn our minds to when they returned to Adelaide, potentially with climate thirty one. We've copp thirty one and we can showcase them and have a suitable

place for them to roost in future. And I'd also like to thank Lord Mayor for your efforts behind the scenes in terms of dealing with the administration and coordinating efforts and often that as a signific amount of public answers to what's happening. But I commend the administration on their busy faeton what they've been doing to solve this very alarming issue.

move on there? Can I ask someone to move the exclusion for Item twenty two moved my council jibs signify Counselor Martin, all those in favor, that's carriaging aanimously, and can I have someone to move the exclusion of twenty three move by Counselor Martin's seconded by Counselor Davis. All those in favor, let's carried. Thank you members. So could I ask members of the public who are in the gallery to be to become absent now I don't know if there are any members.

generations to come. We recognize that in planning and managing the region's transportation system, we have a role to play in supporting reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Before we get started with the formalities the meeting today, i'd like to welcome Darlene Hyde, who joined the Translaning Board on January first, twenty twenty five. Darlene is a seasoned business leader with over thirty years of executive and board experience across real estate, energy, insurance,

and telecommunications in both the public and private sectors. She currently serves as chair of the Stabilization's Central Credit Union, chair of McGill's Women in Leadership in Philanthropy and Vancouver, and as a board member for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Previously, Darlene was CEO of the BC Real Estate Association, Executive director of the Metro Vancouver Commercial Real Estate Devas Element Association, and Interim CEO of the Alberta

Insurance Council. She was recognized as the twenty twenty CEO of the Year in the nonprofit sector by Business Vancouver, and she also led the BC Real Estate Association to be named a top national employer. Welcome Darling. We look forward to all of your ideas and contributions, so thank you. Moving to the agenda before we proceed, are there any items on the consent agenda that any director wishes to

remove from consent for discussion? All right? Scene none. I will now introduce Gordon Harris, who will present today's safety moment.

and friends and an emergency communication plan. Plan for where you and your circle can all safely meet up if you get separated. Make sure everyone has an emergency kit, one stocked with about three days worth of water and non perishable foods, some healthy snacks, maybe a first aid kit, a battery, radio, and a cell phone charger. It is always a good idea, no matter what, to make sure your cell phone is fully charged during an earthquake. Drop cover and hold. We've all heard that for years. Drop

down so you don't risk falling over. Take cover under something solid like a table or desk. Hold on to that table or desk or other solid object. Stay away from windows to avoid broken glass, and if you're outside, try to get to an open area away from buildings, power lines, and trees. If you're on transit, stay seated, and if you're standing, hold on tight to the handrails

and follow the operators instructions. If you're driving, pull over when it's safe to do so, and in an open area, stay in your car with your seat belt on and the engine off until the shaking stops. And listen to

local news for emergency information and updates. And finally, take the time now to look around to pick a safe place in your home and your workplace, put a pair of sturdy shoes under your bed, talk to your family and friends about their plan so everyone is ready just in case the next one is a bigger one.

the environmental impact of the Internet. I've led initiatives that have resulted in the planting of nearly nine thousand trees across thirty different countries and the prevention of seven thousand plastic bottles from entering the ocean. Sustainability is a passion of mine. There's one area of sustainability that often gets overlooked the digital world. Every time you visit a website, stream your favorite movie, or send an email to your grandma,

it requires energy, and that energy use adds up. To put it into perspective, the energy consumption from translink dot CAA's estimated five million monthly visitors creates a digital footprint equivalent to driving electric vehicle over five hundred and sixty thousand kilometers, which is the same as completing more than one thousand round trips on your full rapid bus between UBC and Joystation and taking the six daily bus on over five thousand round trips between downtown and the West End.

The good news as a way to reduce this impact without changing how people use a site, just by optimizing the things that are already there today, I'm going to show you how Translink can cut its digital emissions without sacrifices and performance, accessibility or user experience. All are reinforcing its role as a sustainability leader in metro Vancouver. A lot of people don't realize this, but the Internet is responsible for about three point seven percent of global carbon emissions.

That's about the same as the airline industry. Every web page reload requires electricity to process and transfer data. This means that large, unoptimized websites end up consuming far more energy than necessary, and the thing is this is entirely avoidable. With better design choices, websites can be optimized to use far less energy while still delivering the same information and experience.

To users. I've conducted a comprehensive analysis of translink dot C eight using sustainability tracking tools, and the results who are simply concerning. Each visit to the website generates approximately zero point seventy four grands at CO two, which might not seem like a lot at first. However, with an estimated five million visits per month, this website admits nearly

thirty four thousand kill grands at CO two annually. To put that into perspective, the energy use of the current website is equivalent to charging nearly seven point three million smartphones and the carbon absorbed by over fifteen hundred trees in a year. And why is this happening? Large inefficient images,

excessive JavaScript files and unnecessary fonts. Every additional megabyte increases energy use not just on translit servers, but also on the device the devices of every user app exiting the site. I want to be clear that Translate's website is already well optimized in many ways. It's fast, accessible and served,

and essential public function. But the reality is it could be much cleaner and more sustainable by implementing targeted improvements such as compressing images, removing unnecessary scripts, and optimizing hosting infrastructure vendsling can significantly reduce the energy the website's energy consumption and carbon footprint. Studies show that optimizing images alone can reduce data transfer by to thirty percent.

digital footprint with its clean ener machine transit goals. At the at the end of the day, Translink is leading Metro Vancouver towards a more sustainable future. But this is a major blind spot, one that is easily fixable. If we don't act, the emissions will keep on adding up with every single page view. But with the right changes, Translink can set the standard for sustainable website design in public transit. In conclusion, now is the time to take action.

between two stations without a fair zone border. For example, it costs three dollars twenty cents to travel between Patterson and Metrotown stations, but it costs four dollars and sixty five cents to travel between Patterson and Enjoy stations. That's the one dollar forty five cent difference between traveling in these directions. This logic behind this fair structure does not make any sense. On top of that, Transling has done a fair review a few years back in hopes to

change the fare system. It was said to eliminate the fare zones and implement distance based fares on Skytrain, SeaBus and future rapid transit. That was all said in twenty eighteen, But what year is it now? It's twenty twenty five. This current fare structure is outdated and it has to be changed sooner rather than much later. I'm not the only one to wonder why the fair pricing method hasn't changed, aside from the fare increases that seem to be happening

almost every single year. It's almost twenty six years since Translinic took responsibility of the region's transit network. We even have the technology such as the Compass card system to change it. I don't see the fairness of this current FRAS structure. I've been long hoping for change. Now, even that we have the technology, I'm wondering if Translin is willing and able to make the change. Has it not been a priority since Translink takeover in nineteen ninety nine.

I'm just wondering where the opportunity opportunity was lost. Thanks for listening, and I appreciate you for your time.

six hundred million dollars operation deficit. While an MP. Now he's retired without any legacy. It is the same as many adult Transling staff, directors of the board, and civic and provincial politicians. They've done very little or nothing to help a transit system and will have no legacy. It's been forty one years since the FIR structure was implemented in nineteen eighty four. Vancouver transit riders that are the account for fifty percent of the riders are paying way

above their fair shale of the transit budget. On Friday August first, twenty twenty five, you might not receive the taxes collected on your behalf by all the municipalities. They all displeased and outraged at Translink. Pardlink is the worst in Canada and our fells, compared to the sixth largest system in Canada, are the highest. Just read the cut twenty twenty three fact book. We are now in a similar situation to twenty twenty where staff layoff and service

cuts were proposed. Minutes tell Selena Robinson managed to stop the layoffs and cuts. However, former CEO Kevin Desmond tricked her and adults by robbing Peter to pay Paul. However, Selena Robinson has a legacy of being the second poor transit minister in fifty years. The first one was the late Jim Lomeer in the mid nineteen seventies. So let's look again at all the many inequities, highest average fail

in Canada. Complicated unfail trees on fieses tructure since nineteen eighty four, no special, free or very low fails for seniors teens thirteen to eighteen years old, low income nineteen to sixty four. Different fills for buses versus trained and SeaBus, no faire integration with BC Transit, no fail caps, no

printed timetables or reference copies available at library. Longest average trip time in Canada, very limited overnight bus services, inconsistent hours of service on many bus routes and sea bus. Very limited regional rail service, no was rooms, limited handed out service, very few bike packades station, no funding for bus shelter cancellation of over two hundred bus stop about fifteen percent of all bus stops in the city of Vancouver. One of the only big transit systems is out on

demand transit also called demand response transit. Lower hours of service per capitat and whistle Victoria, Montreal and Toronto. We still have transfer the only valid for ninety minutes, while many other transit systems have one hundred and twenty minutes. You are not supporting the BC Federation of label connecting BC plan with doubling of the bus fleet in three

yels and tripling in six years. Do you even know that three out of the seven members of the London Transit Commission in Ontario resigned earlier this and now the LTC is disbanded. So thank you for listening to me reminder of the longdown times of condition to Antelio.

Translink park and rides. Today we're also releasing our twenty twenty four Accountability Report, our annual report that highlights progress on social, environmental and financial responsibility and features key achievements across the enterprise. Next side, please this year's accountability report really underscores our continued commitment to providing essential transportation services to Metro Vancouver, despite challenges from rapid regional growth in

the last few years, overcrowding and financial constraints. Thanks to the short term funding provided by the twenty two twenty four Investment Plan, we made modest but meaningful improvements to the transit system to address overcrowding and reduce travel times.

This included launching the Our six rapid bus, advancing important initiatives like extending Route six point nine to better serve the Twasson First Nation community, and working with local government partners to create safer, more pedestrian friendly streets, really promoting active transportation and Plus, for the second year in a row, we successfully reduced in service fleet greenhouse gas emissions by approximately twelve percent through renewable fuels, while continuing to invest

in zero emissions and to do our part to strengthen our financial sustainability. We unlocked new revenue streams through the real estate development and transit friendly employer programs, and we realized ninety million dollars in annual efficiencies identified through the Management Action Plan next slide. Please, another important milestone from twenty twenty four was the opening of the new caps Skytrain station on the Canada Line, a huge milestone for

customers traveling to and from Richmond. The second time we've constructed an additional skytrain station to serve an existing line. Capston helps deliver more efficient, rapid transit in the rapidly growing Capston Village area of Richmond, expected to be home to roughly sixteen thousand residents as the area sees rapid growth.

The new station is the result of an innovative agreement between Translink and the City of Richmond, established through a precedent setting funding model involving the city and Capston Village developers, where over half the construction costs for Capston Station came from developer contributions. Translink worked closely with the City of Richmond on station design with the community in mind. This model is an excellent example of what we can do

when we work together to respond to rapid growth. And it was great standing alongside director's Cunningham, Howard and Sandu, as well as Mayors Brody and Harvey as we opened this new station for our customers, and I'm so excited to continue to see the community benefit from this new transit connection. Thanks slide please. In January, we also took a really important step forward with the Bus Rapid Transit Program, highlighting routes and station locations for two of our projects

in Surrey, Maple Ridge and the Township of Langley. Our BRT program will improve connections to growing communities, key destinations and transit hubs in collaboration with our local government partners, and as you know, BRT is key to unlocking connected communities and access to opportunity for both workers and employers. More than two hundred thousand residents and one hundred thousand jobs are within walking distance of these corridors, further supporting

economic growth, affordability, and of course, housing development. We asked for community input on the BRT program, including key features like weather protected stations and real time information displays, which were identified by the public as top priorities in last summer's public engagement, and as part of this recent engagement, we launched a survey which was completed by nearly fifteen

thousand respondents with strong representation from BRT communities. We also are focused very much on the North Shore BRT and additional engagement for the Metro town to North Shore. BRT is anticipated for later this year. Overall feedback that we're receiving is positive, with a strong majority majority of respondents believing BRT will improve transportation in our region. Next slide please.

We also recently sought public feedback on Phase two of the Barrard Area Barrard Peninsula Area Transport Plant, which identifies transportation improvements in this specific area of the region guided

by Transport twenty fifty and Access for Everyone. Building on insights from Phase one, where over four thousand residents, workers and traveler shared how they use the transportation network, Translink sought feedback on proposed actions for transit, cycling, walking, and goods movement, including nearly sixty potential bus route changes, and this feedback will really help shape the final area transport

plan set for release in twenty twenty six. During our Phase two engagement, we received more than forty two hundred survey responses, We completed operator engagements at Vancouver, Hamilton and Burnaby transit centers, and we held thirty community events that

reached more than sixteen hundred members of the public. And while proposed projects are currently unfunded, Translink will continue working with local regional and provincial partners, including First Nations communities, to refine and prioritize these proposals based on public interest

and future funding opportunities. Next five Please, in partnership with BC Hydro, Translink, has launched two new electric vehicle fast charging hubs at park and ride locations in Port Coquitlam and South Surrey, making it even easier for EV users to incorporate transit into their daily commutes. These new hubs provide space for up to thirty eight evs to charge simultaneously and offer a mix of level two and one

hundred eighty kilowat chargers to meet different charging needs. Level two chargers are perfect for transit riders who want to charge their EV while commuting, while the one hundred eighty kilowat chargers provide a fast charging option for those needing to charge right away. And by expanding EV charging infrastructure, Translink is helping to build a more sustainable and convenient transportation network that supports the growing number of EV drivers

in Metro Vancouver. Next side Place. This past Friday, the Government of Canada committed to providing one hundred and fifty million dollars in annual capital funding for Translink over the next decade through the Metro Regional Agreement stream of the Canada Public Transit Fund, and this funding commitment is conditional on an executed agree signed by all parties. We continue to work with government staff to get clarity on the timing for assigned agreement and to understand what impact the

upcoming federal election could have. I do want to thank the Government of Canada for their commitment to public transportation. This announcement really reinforces public transit's importance to the region and the economy, and we look forward to continuing to work with the federal government to keep expanding transit to

support the growing needs of Metro Vancouver residents. While this funding commitment is welcome news, I do think it's important to understand that it does not solve our six hundred million dollar annual operating funding shortfall. We continue to work with all levels of government to secure funding for the Access for Everyone plan, and separately to find a sustainable

funding model to solve our operating funding shortfall. Next line, Please, before closing today, I'd be remiss if I didn't take a moment to acknowledge that last week was transit operator and worker Appreciation Day, a day is set to rerectize the incredibly dedicated transit employees who keep our communities connected

every day. And from bus operators and skytrain attendance to mechanics, maintenance crews and dispatchers, our frontline teams work tirelessly, rain or shine to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient service across Metro Vancouver. This year, we asked customers to join us in recognizing our frontline employees and we got just so many responses sharing heartwarming stories about how our teams don't just move people, they support businesses, they bring families together,

and they contribute to a more sustainable region. And thanks to all those who rode in and helped put a smile on so many of our team spaces last week. Next slide please, that concludes my report. Thank you so much for your time today, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

five business plan. But if we flip to the next slide, I will be starting with a very exciting development at our end, which is that the Mark fives are now testing during revenue service. This is a really important milestone for us. It started a couple of weekends ago where we are running the trains still in test mode, so no customers on board, running the trains in amongst our

other revenue trains during service. This is a really important step in making sure that the new trains interact well with the other trains on the system and all our other automatic train control systems and communications. So far, so good. The early indications from the tests are very promising and we are still on track to introducing the Mark fives into revenue service in the first.

It's digital and it allows us to all make sure that we all working on similar initiatives, coordinated across the organization, breaking down silos to make sure that we're delivering on what is coming in front of us. Some of the very key items that will be occupying us in the next twelve months include modernizing our maintenance division to be more preventive rather than reactive, preparing for the huge event next year, FIFA twenty twenty six coming to our region.

I mentioned launching the Mark fives into service, and we have a couple of new facilities coming online which will really change how BCRTC is doing its work. We also have initiatives on our culture and training. All of that

is documented in our business plan. It's our one stop shop for everything important going on at PCRTC and also our way of working across silos and across divisions, just for common initiatives that we want to make progress on next Live please, our metrics remain very strong, really happy to report that our customer satisfaction ratings, service delivery, on time, on time performance are all trending in the right direction.

I'll point out our escalator and elevating elevator teams are doing phenomenal work and doing preventive maintenance to keep our elevating devices in a state of good repair. Our rail grinding program in twenty twenty four caught up after our hot summer and one hundred and ten kilometers of rail grinding to improve noise and reduce the level of noise that we impose on the region. And our boardings continue to increase. We had a significant jump in boardings in

twenty twenty four. Early numbers in twenty twenty five are also showing continued increase and boardings on Skytrain an old testament to a region that really wants more Skytrain service, and as we see improved density and increased housing around our stations, we are finding the customer responding to our product and driving Skytrain more and more. Our growth in Skytrain boardings is well exceeding the population increase in the region.

Sometimes the snow arrived when it was not predicted. At other times it was predicted and did not arrive, keeping our team on its stoes, and that lasted for about a week again off again snow. So we took all these learnings in as to when do immobilize, when do we demobilize, and how do we remain alert when we have these very marginal conditions which are difficult to predict.

By and large, the system performed really well. The teams did excellent work and keeping Skytin moving and we, of course we're all in all our learnings into next year's winter plan. Next slide. In terms of other state of good repair items, one of the most noticeable projects is we have a very large escalator deplacement going on at Commercial Broadway that is needing completion. I'm happy to report we had to close a staircase as well, so we

did impose some inconvenience on our customers. We've now been able to reopen the staircase which enabled the escalators to be replaced, so that project should be wrapping up and we should benefit from having new vertical circulation devices at that station. Behind the scenes, we've done a lot of work to improve the availability of maintenance resources during the

times when we can do the work. If you see that picture of maintenance crews on the line overnight, we tend to forget how much work happens on Skytrain during the maintenance window overnight. So one of the items we did last fall was better matching availability of maintenance re sources with our maintenance windows, and now we're in a much better place to be able to maximize the work that we do when the system is available to us for maintenance. Next slide please. We recently were very thrilled

to open upgrade at Brentwood station. This has been years in the making. Customers at Brentwood now have significantly improved vertical circulation with additional escalators and elevators, more retail opportunities, a space for detail has been made available so that will be coming soon. Improved faregates so more capacity, improved integration with the Brentwood Mall so easier to move between the station and the mall. And improved scepted client prevention

through environmental design. So all of these things have been now open and available to our customers and happy to see a vision coming to reality and allowing us to provide better station environments for our customers. Next slide, please, I mentioned the testing of the Mark fives. Behind the scenes, we have several trains on the assembly line so to speak. I mentioned one is now in system testing. We have

two other trains in the yard here at Edmunds. Three more trains and various stages of being assembled and manufacturing and transportation. So once we have the first train and service a bit later this year, we expect to be able to introduce an additional train every month or so for the remainder of the year. So we're targeting to have maybe around six to eight new trains and service by year's end, and the teams are working hard with

our suppliers to make that happen. Next slide please. Another huge change for us at BCRTC which is becoming real as you can see in that photo, is our new control center. So the building is now up. It's being outfitted. The videal and console has been installed with all the background electrical mechanical systems being tested. Our readiness planning continues to move into that building and start operating towards the

middle of next year. So a lot of work going on and really excited to finally move into our new control home at Edmonds here next slide please, And on the maintenance side, our first new maintenance facility, purpose built for the Mark fives is taking shape. We call it VMS three or Vehicle Maintenance Shop Free. We expect to

open this facility late this year. It has been designed from the ground up with the necessary length and equipment for Mark five maintenance and it allows us to be able to expand and improve our train maintenance activities.

to report are own schedule. On our end, we have a lot of activities on making sure we are staffed and we are trained, and we have the equipment necessary to be able to operate and maintain these two major system expansions coming our Way Broadway Subway in twenty twenty seven and Study Langley in twenty twenty nine. Next slide, please,

I will build on Kevin's comment around Canada Line. On the customer facing side, the station at Capston includes significantly improved vertical circulation amenities for our customers and also improved crime prevention through environmental design as well as it's our

first all digital stations. Customer using that station, we'll see a lot more usage of digital signage, which improves maintenance and facilitates our ability to maintain a lot of the features at the station and provide better and more real time information for our customers. So really happy to see the station come online, and thank you to our partners at Canada Line who enabled this work to happen. Next slide, Please, On the team side, a lot goes on all the

time at BCRTC. We recently completed a Certificate of Recognition audit through the Workspace BC and we achieved in ninety five percent audit score, which is remarkable. So really happy with the team achieving that we on the environmental side no reportable spills in the last quarter. That's something we keep an eye on and we've launched a turnet off campaign to do our part in making sure that we are reducing our environmental footprint and reducing use of carbon.

On the readiness emergency readiness side with increased climate events severe climate events, we ran a tabletop exercise to improve our readiness for wind response. As you know, we have the Skybridge exposed to significant wins and that's one of the areas we need to be very ready for is when we have severe wind events, how does the team respond. So we ran a tabletop exercise for that event and

my final slide echoing the comments from Kevin. We had both the Employee Recognition Day and the Transit Worker Ciation Day. We took the opportunity to be on the system to express our thanks to our teams. Everything I described is only possible with our teams working really hard night and day twenty four to seven to make it happen. We're also very pleased with internal cooperation with other parts of

the Translink family. A couple of the photos in the bottom left their show internal appreciation from Transit Police to BCRTC employees for the very good collaboration that goes on between our two groups. So that is also part of us appreciating our teams and really being able to say a heartfelt thank you to the teams that make all this work happen. I believe that's my last slide, so happy to take any questions.

of course, there we go. The suspense was part of it, I think, so A handy dart and conventional bus update for the board today, looking back on winter as well for the bus company, a new battery electric bus that we are testing right now as we speak, some big news on the excuse me, big news on the trolley bus front, an update on a couple of our major projects as well, and reflections on recruitment, and I will close with talking about staff recognition as well. So that's great,

Let's go to the next lot. So first off, on your side there, we'll take you through our bus and handi dart service and performance. On the conventional bus side, CNBC delivered one hundred and one percent of service compared to budget. This This is higher than one hundred percent due to the early implementation of about seventy thousand annual

service hours from the twenty twenty four investment plan. For January twenty twenty five, has continued the implementation of these investments with additional service hours across more than thirty bus routes. Improvements included a new route three three eight East Fraser

Heights in Surrey, which is a previously unserved community. Also, we extended service span on fourteen routes and in addition to that, six projects initiated by CNBC to address acute problem areas and improved to improvements to frequency to address overcrowding. On the handy dart side of things, we are returning to normal in Q four twenty twenty four, following the ATU job action that ceased at the end of September. For Q four twenty twenty four, ninety eight percent of

requested trips were delivered. As always, this excludes client cancelations and lastly, on time performance was ninety percent, which is right on target for handy dart. Not excited, please, So I think we now with the weather today, we've reached the end of March and it's it's perhaps safe to say that we had a mile to winter. However, we did have a couple of days, a couple of opportunities to test our few of our new winter prepared preparedness

items and initiatives. Regarding the Grip d tires that I've mentioned in previous meetings, we now have five hundred and seventy buses equipped with these new tires from Micheland. Our end years have been continuing to track their performance, always looking at all conditioned performance, not just snow but also wet roads and dry roads, as well as durability and impact on a fuel economy. Overall, these tires are performing extremely well and we're receiving great feedback both from transit

operators and for maintenance staff. So that's good news there. Again, in regards to our sixteen articulated buses that I mentioned at a previous meeting, these buses were also assigned to roads with challenging terrain, terrain that usually requires us to pull our sixty foot buses off off the road. I'm pleased to tell the board that these buses performed extremely well and we pulled zero buses off the road during our winter this last number of months, so that was good news there.

called the elect Trip. It is a thirty foot bus and as you might imagine, falls kind of halfway between our forty foot conventional bus and a community shuttle. Next week the trial will end and the bus will return to Quebec, but our teams will look at the data and see how everything went. So interesting interesting tests there next slide please, So, as you may have seen in the news earlier this month, we've signed a contract with

Celaris Bus and Coach for CNBC's next generation trolleybus fleet. Selearis, a European manufacturer, was selected based on their proven track record for service and ability to deliver cost effectively while meeting our fleet replacement timelines. Timelines are so important these days, and it was good to see that they could meet those.

We intend to replace the entire existing fleet of two hundred and sixty two trolleybuses, but the contract does also allow for some possible expansion if we if we choose to do that, we expect to receive the first The first bus actually in not too much time, about a year a little over a year in mid twenty twenty six, with the remaining buses starting to be delivered in twenty twenty seven. We did get a taste of this Selari's bus when we did a demo in summer of twenty

twenty three. That's pictured here on the slide with some of our team. In addition to having air conditioning which will make everyone a bit more comfortable on our trolleybuses, the most exciting thing about the Celaris bus is that they includ in motion charging. Now, as you know, our current trolleybus fleet is powered by the overhead trolley wires, but they cannot really go off wire for any great distance.

The new fleet will use the overhead wires for propulsion, but also have a traction battery that charges while the bus is in motion. This will allow Celaire's buses to operate off wire for about twenty kilometers, whereas our current fleet is really a couple hundred meters at most. This will give our fleet planners schedulers more flexibility and we'll be able to handle detours and blockages and unplanned issues with ease. So very exciting times for our trolleybus fleet.

Next slide please, so just a couple updates on our infrastructure projects. Marpole Transit Center, which is, as a reminder, our next bus depot and maintenance facility that is currently under construction in South Vancouver. The facility will be our first purpose built battery electric bus depot, and we'll have capacity of about three hundred battery electric buses at opening. You see a picture here on the screen as is

construction just from the beginning of March made. Your work so far been about driving piles into the ground, in fact, a little over three thousand piles. You can see some of the picture there on your screen. So lots of work going on there for pork equivalent transit centers. To a quick update, we finish early works and are moving on to main works to renovate, expand and electrify that

transit center. Upgrades to PTC will add service capability for battery electric buses and double decker buses and improve maintenance capacity for expansion. Now regarding the last item for contact, CNBC is currently either at or beyond capacity at our transit center's meeting. We're really running out of room to

park to park buses. A pilot to mitigate this issue will launch in June in a couple of months called Satellite Parking, and buses will be cleaned, fueled, and any necessary maintenance performed at a depot, but then moved to an off site parking location. So they're poised and ready to book out the next morning. In this particular case, the area that's being used as an operator layover lot

near Newton Exchange in Surrey that we currently in. So if this pilot is successful, satellite parking could be utilized across our system as an ongoing strategy to help with incremental expansion. Next slide. Please, So I've I've talked a lot about future things, and the future would be nothing without really great people, and so I wanted to share some strategies around hiring these great people at CNBC. For transit operator recruitment, things have come a long way over

the years. Our teams from Operations, HR, Training and others have become experts at hiring transit operators, and this year we will aim to hire the largest number of transit operators in recent memory. Actually, in twenty twenty four we hired six hundred and eighty transit operators and this will grow to eight hundred and twenty new operators for twenty

twenty five. On the maintenance side, we are focusing on increasing CNBC's hiring presence at external career fairs, secondary school student presentations, shop and garage tours, hands on job shadowing for groups such as bctc's Women in Trades program. We know that kids begin to think about careers in high school and college, and though it takes some time, we are finding that peaking their interest early in life will

have big paybacks for us. Lastly, in twenty twenty four, CNBC has crafted our own separate and unique voice on LinkedIn. We have a couple of goals, building company pride of course being one of them, but also helping highlight recruitment opportunities. Each month, we highlight at least one job opportunity to draw attention to positions that are either difficult to fill or that we need to fill quickly, and we've shared a number of job opportunities from different departments to showcase

the diversity of roles at CNBC Next Life. Please promised another nod to our great staff. We close up the month of March. March is a big month for staff recognition throughout the transit industry. Not only did we celebrate March seventh, National Employee Appreciation Day, but also March eighteenth, the Transit Operator and Worker Appreciation Day. This year, we took advantage to celebrate both days and show our employees

how much we appreciate them. On March seventh, executives and leaders seventy actually from across the enterprise, We're out and about thanking employees in person, both inside our facilities and out on the system. I was able to make it from the tricities to the north Shore to New Westminster.

important one of employee recognition. Next lide, Please, this is the second consecutive year where Transit Police is seeing a decline in the volume of reported crimes, and this is actually the third straight year we have seen declines in crime rate. When you account for increasing passenger.

in twenty twenty four. Those are crime categories we look to focus OFFICERIR efforts and look to continue to decrease those numbers. Next life, please.

we responded to thirty two such incidents. I will note that these have been occurring as well throughout the different jurisdictional areas in the Lower Mainland.

were suspicious packages and thirty two were unattended. To give you contexts, an example from late January involved a passenger reporting an unattended bag left under the stairs at Stadium station.

doing every day. In one instance, they were flged down by citizens who reported a sexual assault and the Community Safety officers took down a detailed description of the suspect. It was communicated to our frontline police officers who located and arrested the suspect While conducting fair enforcement. An individual who was in emotional distress came forward to our CSO officers.

They assisted the individual ensuring they felt safe and comfortable in the station environment until authorities could arrive and transport this individual to hospital. A final example, they're out on foot patrolling a station and they hear a local broadcast about a theft that just occurred nearby, and they were able to locate the suspects outside the station, communicating their

whereabouts until our police officers attended the scene. So excellent, just their visibility and their observations that are occurring next light.

Police to share that thirteen volunteers were successful in moving into a career in public safety, including some of those here.

an interest in transit safety and law enforcement. So many events they were engaged over fifty five community events in twenty twenty four, interacted with one hundred and ninety vulnerable persons, were able to give out one hundred and fifty coal weather items to persons in vulnerable circumstances, and the important eight seven seven seventh, Over ten thousand decals, cards and slap band advertising on the tech service were distributed, creating greater awareness.

public and their coworkers. A few examples for recognition. You know to off us who ran into oncoming traffic to shield a young child who was running into a busy roadway. We had two officers who investigation into theft at Lululemon location led over to one hundred thousand dollars in recovered merchandise from across the region and these individuals were using the transit system to move that product. And a civilian professional crime analyst who successfully identified a suspect in a

series of reported sex offenses. This year was the first year as well we introduced this Warren Officer of the Year and Civilian Professional of the Year. And Constable Sunny Ken was our inaugural sworn Officer of the Year and incredible work he's doing in community at tending countless events. He's the president of our Transit Police Social Club and spent significant time outside in volunteer work hours working in community raising over one hundred thousand dollars for cancer research

and care. And Kelly Steel are civilian professional. She has been busy doing a lot of the training. We've shared the full day of Indigenous experiential learning that all police officers and their civilians were involved in and She's been recently recognized as well for work with Oldheimer's BC to develop dementia training for all.

I share, so I'll provide that report. We had a busy meeting because it's the first meeting after the end of the year. We considered some items that are on the agenda later in this meeting, namely the transit tariff amendment, a statutory annual report, audited financial statements, and the financial and ear end financial and Performance Report. So we'll leave those items to deal be dealt with later in our

consent in the consent agenda for today. There's also a report that we considered which is about the maintenance and operation of our bridges in the Translink system. Other matters that we're discussed were the rail expansion program, a status update on the work that is being done to prepare for the Broadway Subway and Surrey Langley's scot Train extensions. You heard quite a bit about in Sandi Zion's report, and everything seems to be on track for opening day.

We also received the report on the status of the provincially led work to construct those extensions on the Broadway Subway and the Surrey Langley Skytrain. We had an overview of the work in the past year on the real estate development, so the Real Estate Development Annual Report and quarterly update tequilar emphasis on the largely residential tower project at Arbutus and Broadway in Vancouver. We always received the safety update in these meetings because safety is important throughout

the Translink enterprise. The boards of each of the operating companies also received reports on the safety records in each of the rail and bus operations. We review the safety goals for twenty twenty five and reviewed the public safety campaign that trans conducted recently, we also considered emergency management. Since the last report, activities by Translink and its operating companies have included plining for and responding to winter weather,

and you heard a little bit about that earlier. And then also large public gatherings, particularly like the Taylor Swift concerts late last year, we learned about more about business and continuity, integrated security and the training and exercise work that goes on to make sure that we're always prepared

for emergencies. Emergency management personnel were also engaged in various enterprise projects, including the Enterprise Resiliency Working Group, climate Adaptation and seismic resiliency programs, all of which are important and you heard some of that in the reports from the various operations. And finally, we had an annual check in

on the status of the funds received and invested. When toils were ended on the Golden Ear's Bridge, as you may call over, was a significant payment from the province at the time, and we make sure there were being good stewards of those funds as according to previous board policy.

So that's what we considered at our last meeting. If anyone has any questions for me, about that report, I'm happy to entertainment see none takes us to the next committee report, which is Planning Communities and Communications, and they'll turn it over to the chair Andrew Rymer.

twenty twenty four. I think what's most notable about this report is that it includes trip diary information, which we haven't had since twenty seventeen, so it was very I would think of as a chunky report that we got to kind of dive into some really good statistics looking at.

place in the downtown east Side. We also at every meeting receive our Board correspondent summary the Planet committees where that goes, so when people are getting ahold of the Board through various avenues, that is where we receive that summary. And then also the key construction projects update. And that was it for our committee.

the boards can sent agenda today. We also receive status reports on some key initiatives, including the HR Digital Transformation Program, and that involves adopting HR technologies to enable more data driven decisions, improve processes, and increase efficiency, all with the aim of improving employee experience. So this program is proceeding

well and continues to be under budget. We also receive the People in Culture Department's quarterly report, and I'd like to highlight just a few of the key efforts and outcomes from that report, including continued work on leadership development programs to support staff in growing in their careers, also listening to employee interests and concerns through an employee engagement survey, supporting employee resource groups to enhance our culture of inclusion

at Translink, and some targeted efforts to recruit some business

critical positions such as maintenance, cybersecurity, and engineering. The results of those efforts were also things that we heard, including decreasing voluntary turnover rates in each of the last three years for the organization, as well some very strong interest from applicants at our job fares and as Mike McDaniel noted earlier, resulting in some great success hiring transit operators and community shuttle operator positions, which are of course essential

for Transling. We also resumed materials in preparation for this year's work, including the Committee's terms of reference, our completion checklist for the Committee's duties from twenty twenty four, and feedback on the effectiveness of the new director orientation program.

IT risks that are out there, including cybersecurity. We also received and discussed at length the Enterprise Digital Strategy and Roadmap, which was very thorough and very well received by the committee. This is a very exciting strategy and path forward for the organization that is about leveraging the organization's digital strengths and opportunities to improve the customer experience, enhance employee engagement,

and to optimize business processes. So I think we'll be looking for some very interesting things to I'm out of this strategy and roadmap in the years to come. Finally, the IT Committee also receive reviewed its terms of reference and conducted some other routine annual reviews. Thank you, mister Share.

the region. This data is then used to inform planning initiatives by translating municipalities and other regional authorities. Next slide. Please, So, the last Trip Diary was conducted in twenty twenty three and there are three important early findings that we would like to share from it. The first one is that the number of daily trips in the region increased by eight point six percent between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty three.

This is a smaller increase than what we would have expected based on the growth in factors such as population and employment and or ownership in the region, and I'll talk a little bit more about it later. The second finding is that there was a substantial growth in sustainable chair and in twenty twenty three it crossed for the

first time the thirty percent milestone. And then the third fundings or highlight is that the number of vehicle kilometers travel traveled or VKT decreased by close to five percent between twenty seventeen twenty twenty three. This is the first time that VIKT in the region decreased and is a

result of combination of two factors. The first one is that the number of auto trips decreased by about one and a half percent, and the second is that the average distance of auto driver trips decreased by about three percent. So the combination of the two of those led to

about five percent decrease in VTT. So the last two points that I marked there are very encouraging, as increasing sustainable modechair and reduction in VKT are two of the main objectives of the Regional Transportation Strategy Transport twenty fifty and the findings that the region a crossed the thirty percent sus terrible mochair and experienced reduction in VCT are significant milestones to reaching these objectives. Now about this line

that we see here in front of us. Going back to the number of trips, the reason that we would have expected larger growth in trips between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty three is that, as can be seen, growth in factors such as population, jobs, and auto ownership in that during that period was similar to the growth in

these factors between twenty eleven and twenty seventeen. However, the increasing the number of trips between twenty eleven and twenty seventeen was close to twenty five percent, while the growth in the number of trips between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty three was below nine percent. So we have very similar background factors that lead to fairly different results in terms of the overall number of trips in the system.

percent in twenty twenty three. The biking motor also went up slightly during this period, but transit motor experienced a small decrease. Another important observation from this graph is that auto driver motor declined substantially from close to fifty five percent in twenty seventeen to about fifty percent in twenty

twenty three. Next light, please, so here we are shifting from talking about the trip diary to talking about the ongoing monitoring efforts that we have so looking more at the system in twenty twenty four, and the first thing that we see is that the overall number of trips in the system by all modes was fairly stable in twenty twenty four. When talking about transit, last year, transit

leadership grew by three point three percent. This growth is in line with the annual growth the transit system experience in pre COVID years and suggests that the larger ridership increases the region experience as part of the COVID recovery is largely behind us, and going forward, ridership growth will mostly depend unusual factors such as growth in population, jobs, and economic environment. With regard to driving, daily traffic has been mostly stable since twenty twenty two and even declined

slightly at the end of last year. At the same time, however, travel speeds during peak periods have been trending down and the reliability of travel times has been deteriorating. This means that congestion has generally gotten worse in the region over the last three years or so.

twenty twenty four. However, there was large variability in subregional growth levels. The subregions with the fastest ridership growth where the east part of the South of Fraser with eleven percent radioship increase and Maple Reach Peak Meadows with six percent increase. On the other hand, the Broad Peninsula and the North Shore experienced limited ridership growth. Next slide. Please,

So that's it for the presentation. We just want to head that their report we submitted to the board includes information about these and other transportation metrics we track on an ongoing basis and use for informing decisions.

We actually, I think this time we set over seven hundred thousand letters to inviting households to participate in the survey. So I assume that at least half of the board received those ZERRAI those letters. Sorry for participation in terms, but there is a challenge in the sense that I think newcomers to the regions are probably less likely to participate just because they don't field yet part of the community.

Potentially in terms of language barriers, we did introduce Chinese languages, Magarine and Cantonese as ways for people to participate in the survey. Generally speaking, we tried we checked in previous years how much of a language barrier there is, and it didn't seem to be a big language barrier. Might be more of a cultural barrier, or again, people that are not feeling part of the community yet that are less likely to participate in the survey.

impacts and pressures on our costs. Expenses were favorable to budget do in large part to almost twenty million dollars of cost reductions that were identified as part of the Management Action Plan. Next slide. Please Every week, nearly one million people take transit at least once, which means around one third of Metro Vancouver's population relies on transit every week. In fact, the reliance on transit has grown so much that we are now second in Canada in writership for capita,

behind only Montreal. A number of people who depend on transit in this region as a testament to how integrated transit is to everyday life and how important our service is to Metro Vancouver's economy. Next slide, Please now keep focus for twenty twenty four was to continue to prepare

for expansion. Will also increase our service hours. Now through the twenty twenty four investment plan, we've been increasing those hours service hours on the most overcrowded bus routes, and it's heard from Sandy earlier, we've also been preparing for

the largest skytrain expansion in our history. So when in service, the Broadway Subway and the Surrey Langley Skytrain extensions will expand our skytrain system by twenty seven percent, which means that preparations are already well under way to make sure we have the facilities and the staff ready for the opening of each line. And most notably, we look forward to the new Skytrain cards, which Sandy's team are currently testing as he mentioned next slide, Please so move on

to revenues. As I mentioned, we saw a three point three percent increase in ridership and a seven percent increase in transit revenues reflecting that additional service hours, and so that shows us a positive variance to our budget. In twenty twenty four, there was a one time property tax increase of eighty million dollars which enabled investment in the

added service hours to dress over crowding. This increase in property tax and the corresponding service investments were approved in the twenty twenty four Investment Plan that took place after the twenty twenty four budget was approved, so this revenue shows as a positive variance to the twenty twenty four budget. These additional revenues helped offset the lower fuel tax revenue which continues to decline, and even more so than was

expected in the budget. Development cost charges were above budget and that reflects delivery of capital projects, some of which had been delayed in twenty twenty three. And just as a reminder, these development revenues are restricted can only be used for eligible capital projects, so they can't be used for our operating expenses. And next slide and we'll turn

to operating expenses. Well across the organization. Given our funding challenges, there was a real focus on prudent cost control and financial optimization measures which resulted in operating savings in twenty twenty four, and this included almost twenty million of cost savings achieved through the Management Action Plan. So that meant that even with our increased service hours approved in the twenty twenty four Investment Plan, we were able to come

under budget in twenty twenty four. Next slide, now turning to capital investments. This chart highlights the total investments that are helping us to repair for our future expansion, the largest investment areas being major construction, facilities and vehicles. Investments in capital projects in twenty twenty four were eight hundred and seventy six million dollars and that's a significant increase over twenty twenty three, again based on those expansion plans.

In addition, there was eighty six million dollars in infrastructure contributions to municipal programs. That was also an increase over twenty twenty three. Sandy and Mike shared a number of the major projects included in the in the capital program, so we won't go through them all here, but just a reminder the new mark for trains, our new cap

stand station. We had work on the operations and control center to support the Broadway subbody project, and maybe just also to add the transformation of one hundred and seventy nine bus stops to wheelchair accessible and that exceeded the target of one hundred and fifty next slide, please, So just to summer summarize in twenty twenty four, while maintaining

fiscal prudence to manage those inflationary pressures. Transit continue to invest in safety and reliability, with expenditure's target towards improving our state of good repair and the perception of safety on the transit system, as well as advancing those key

regional initiatives. And that's why it was so important that we advanced not only an efficiency review in twenty twenty four, but that set of cost optimization measures and revenue generating actions to make sure that we're doing everything we can independently to mitigate our funding gap. Those actions are well underway. In the long run, we'll save costs or generate revenue of an average of ninety million dollars per year for the organization in twenty twenty four, with ridership and revenue

growth and target is savings. Through that efficiency review, investments were made in preparing for expansion and an additional service, while expenses were managed below budget. And as Transit continues to work with the province to continue to address its structural deficit and develop a sustainable financial model to support growth in our region, we will continue to focus on managing expenses and maintaining our services and with that a will time turn it back to you any questions.

twenty five. Translink again received an unqualified audit opinion. And I would just maybe take this moment to thank Olga and her entire finance team for all the work throughout this year end in completing the financial reporting and Altnate back to you.

to the to the resolutions. If not, The resolution for the report is that the Translin Port of Directors approves the twenty twenty four annual Statutory Annual Report mandaged dated by the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Act has presented in attachment one to the report and authorizes the release of the twenty twenty four Statutory Annual Report to the Mayor's Council on Regional Transportation to some make that

motion seconded by Lorraine. Any discussion on the motion if not all in favor and he posed seeing none, that passes. And then we also have the audited consolidated financial statements.

I don't know, Patrisia Older, do you have any other comments about the statements or then the resolution we have for that is that the Transling Board of Directors approves that twenty twenty four audited consolidated financial Statements attached to the report entitled twenty twenty four Audited Consolidated Financial Statements dated March twenty one, twenty twenty five, and authorizes the Board Chair and Finance and Audit Committee Chair to sign

the approved consolidated Financial Statements. To have someone to make that motion, Lorraine, thank you, and seconded by Gordon and all in favor and he opposed. Seeing then that Harris, okay. That takes us to item fifteen then, which is the Transit Tariff Amendment, and the Terresa roglove to speak to that.

below behind the growth and costs. So this year's four percent increase, which will be effective July first, was approved in the twenty twenty four investment Plan, so we're recommending that to enact this by law to implement the twenty twenty five fair increase. If you could go to the next slide, just a little bit of background on historical fares.

You can see that the variation the fair increase over the past few years and their relationship to inflation on this chart, and the four percent increase will help our revenues to catch up after being held below the inflation rate for those past five years. Blue being inflation and red being the fares on this chart. Next sign one more. This is looking at a little bit a different way, which is showing the cumulated increase in inflation over the years.

That's the blue line relative to the cumultive increase in fares, which is the red line. So you can see here that over the multi year impact where fares have not kept up with inflation. So the twenty twenty five increase will help narrow the gap that fares will continue to be below the accumulated inflation over the year.

transit agencies in Canada. Translate to new bus cash fare will be equal to Toronto's and lower than Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa. Customers who use stored value receive further discounted rates, and even when factoring in zones only Edmonton transit users will pay less than our riders due on average. So that concludes my presentations, but did take any questions?

kind of relates back to the delegation earlier. I mean, four percent can be tough for certain folks to absorb, but in general, and you see this in board correspondence reports, a probably more latent concern for people can be the fairness to them individually. And so this question that was asked about you know, going over one you're going one stop, but you end up paying for two zones, and there's

other examples I could given the system. Can you talk a bit about some of the limitations to us of changing the fare of structure as it sits right now?

distant space. That remains our policy approach and is something that as we need to upgrade our compass system to be able to achieve that.

It's while transit is done differently in different cities and in some places, it's and how support for low income people beyond transit is done differently in different cities, and so some agencies directly provide more discounts.

pass and I'll read it to you. It's that the Transland Board of Directors on introduces and reads a first, second, and third time the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Tariff by Law number one six zero Dash twenty twenty five attached to this Reporter's attachment one effect of July first, twenty twenty five and two reconsiders and finally adopts the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Tariff by Law number

one six zero Dash twenty twenty five. Someone make that motion, Darlene, seconded by Lorraine any discussion, all in favor, and he opposed, and that Carise, all right, thank you. And then I think the remaining item we have to deal with is our consent agenda. So could I have someone make a motion to adopt and approve the consent agenda? Stephen, thank you, and seconded by Tracy, all in favor and he posed not that Carise, And that gets us to the conclusion

of our public meetings. So thank you everyone for joining us today and we look forward to interacting with you again in our next public media Thanks very much.