TransLink announced Tuesday afternoon that they are not in a financial position to fund their share of the underground bus loop project proposed for the middle of campus, putting the project on hiatus again­­—this time, perhaps for good.

“With the funding restraints we have, TransLink has informed UBC that we will not be in a position to fund a share of that project,” said Ken Hardie of TransLink media relations.

The underground bus loop was part of UBC’s plans to create a “university town” on campus and to replace the “temporary” bus loop on Wesbrook Mall. It was originally designed to go under a shopping mall and block of condos on University Boulevard to provide accessible transportation.

According to Associate Vice President of Campus and Community Planning Nancy Knight, the university was committed to building the tunnel and outer shell portion of the underground bus loop, and since TransLink is a partner in the project, they were to “fit it out” by providing software and other components to make the proposed terminal operable.

However, Knight told The Ubyssey that the city’s Mayors Council decided not to provide funding for capital projects and therefore cannot meet their side of the partnership.

“When the Mayors Council decided not to provide the $275 million a year funding or the $450 million a year funding for TransLink, a whole bunch of capital projects that TransLink had committed to would have to be canceled or postponed indefinitely. And our bus terminal is just one of those,” she said.

TransLink is facing a financial crisis with an expected $97 million deficit at the end of the year. The Vancouver Sun reported that the company claims it needs $450 million to expand the system to meet the needs of Vancouverites, but only asked for $130 million so that they can keep transit moving while they find other ways to run their system.

“It’s really unfortunate that they can’t meet their obligations,” Knight said. When asked whether the project would go ahead without TransLink, Knight said no.
“I don’t know that we could go ahead with it. It is a partnership project and it does require investment by TransLink,” she said.

Knight added that the university still wants to improve bus services and will look at different options.

“We’ll have to go back and take a look at our options for completely [surface level] facilities,” she said. “We still want an improved bus facility, but UBC couldn’t do the below grade part of the terminal without TransLink being our partner there.”

In a letter addressed to the UBC community, Knight said that the university will now “work with TransLink and the campus community to explore viable options that meet the needs of our students, faculty, staff, residents and visitors” through a consultation process.

AMS President Blake Frederick said that the university is short approximately $10 million for the $50 million underground bus loop project since they did not get funding from TransLink. However, Knight said that she is not entirely sure about the exact amount, adding that the only money that has been invested in the project so far has been funds regarding design and design plans, which total about $400,000.

But Frederick said that the university has been tight-lipped about how much money has been spent on the project. “The AMS is still calling on the university to provide specific information,” he said. “This should be publicly available information, but they have turned down my request for information so far.”

“Students have made it clear since 2003 that a single dollar being spent on the proposed underground bus loop was too much,” Frederick added. “So I want to make it clear that any money that’s been spent is any money over and above what should have been spent.”
Despite all of this, Frederick said the AMS is pleased that the proposed project will not be going through, since plans were “flawed from the beginning.”

“The focus now will be on ensuring that the university involves students meaningfully in the impending consultation process on what the university’s future transit plans will be,” he said.

More coverage of the underground bus loop project:

Bus loop: a symbolic victory for students

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