VANCOUVER — TransLink is proposing to increase local taxes and fees by $450 million a year, and it’s not sitting well with the province’s trucking association.

TransLink – Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation authority – is focused on both transit and the road network, including several important bridges, but the B.C. Trucking Association says TransLink has always had a strong transit bias.

The cash-strapped transit authority now says it needs $150 million a year to maintain current levels of transit service, and an additional $300 million for expansion. And if they get neither there will be a 40 percent cut in bus service.

TransLink floated the idea of putting tolls on bridges and charging an annual levy of $122 on each vehicle. Premier Gordon Campbell’s response was that TransLink should cut administrative costs and look to save money within the organization.

With the province holding firm, the BCTA figures it’s only a matter of time before the cost is passed onto the municipalities, which would be an increase of roughly $200 per Vancouver resident, according to the BCTA.

“To put it into context, that’s the equivalent of a 12% hike in personal incomes taxes or increasing the provincial sales tax from 7% to 12%. It’s unlikely to end there, either, since new taxes and tax hikes are always a threat,” wrote Paul Landry, BCTA president and CEO, in a recent editorial for local media.

Landry says most of the new funding will come from road users who have no choice except to drive, with the money being spent on transit.

“There is very little to indicate that the over 35 percent of TransLink funding likely to be collected from road users will result in any change from the historic average of 4 – 5 percent invested in roads and bridges,” adds Landry.

Landry also points out that road users in B.C. already pay about $2.5 billion annually in a variety of road user taxes.

Rather than debate who should be taxed and how much, and whether or not public transit is the best traveling option for the public, the BCTA would like to see a review of TransLink’s past 10 years to see how the authority has improved transit in the region.

Possibly coincidently, B.C. Transportation Minister Shirley Bond has called for a fiscal and governance review of TransLink and BC Ferries to be completed by the end of September.