TransLink

In Vancouver, B.C., we had an extremely informative meeting with Keenan Kitasaka, TransLink’s manager in intelligent transportation systems, on transportation planning in the Greater Vancouver Region.

TransLink is the Greater Vancouver Region’s transportation authority. It plans transportation services and infrastructure as well as financing and managing of all public transit. It also plans the future of freight in the region. He started with a presentation explaining how TransLink is organized and how it relates to other agencies. He called our attention to the fact that the board of directors’ members are volunteers and the positive impact of having an unique authority coordinating municipalities’ transportation-related actions. This last point has allowed coordinating infrastructure investment and traffic management projects in the area.

We also were introduced to the transit planning and operations in the region. Transit is a fundamental component in TranLink’s vision for a sustainable future. Billions of dollars have been spent in new infrastructure and equipment as new heavy rail lines (the famous SkyTrain) have been installed, bus fleet have been updated and transit corridors improved. TransLink can also regulate land uses and has the authority to buy land (at market price) when a new transportation project requires it. This ensures the uses and densities exist to create transit-oriented developments. It was interesting to contrast the more top-down approach Vancouver and, in general, Canada has in transportation planning. On the contrary, the US follows a more bottom-up approach where citizens and local agencies have more power.
Finally, we were shown the different road infrastructure projects in the region to keep delay low for trucks. These projects are complemented with new investments in intelligent transportation systems to improve the management of infrastructure and traffic in the area.

We were incredible thankful to Keenan for his enriching and thoughtful presentation and left discussing the similarities and differences between the Greater Vancouver Region and the US.