TransLink will not put its faregate and smart card project on hold until a more in-depth business case can be conducted.
Burnaby council had asked TransLink to delay the project, but TransLink responded that it was moving ahead.
"Work is already well underway with plans detailed in our base plan for 2010 and through into 2011," stated a letter to council from TransLink board chair Nancy Olewiler. "Based on the positive reception and encouragement from the public and community leaders across the region, we have committed to implementing the Compass Card and faregates in 2013."
Mayor Derek Corrigan was upset by the news, he said, but has no recourse on the issue.
"We're disappointed but not surprised," Corrigan said in a phone interview Monday.
TransLink has said it's introducing the new Compass Card and turnstile system to prevent fare evasion.
The Compass Card would substitute cash, passes and FareSaver tickets, and allow TransLink to charge riders based on distance traveled, rather than the current boundary system.
The faregate turnstiles are being introduced to prevent fare jumpers from not paying for using transit, but Burnaby council does not think the expense is justified.
Council made the request to TransLink after looking over a report compiled by city staff in July that analyzed the business case the transit authority made public in the spring.
"It's not a true business case," Corrigan said. "There's no real judgment on whether this was good for TransLink or a good expenditure of capital."
Corrigan added he didn't think Olewiler, who is an economics professor at Simon Fraser University, would pass a student if they handed in a business case similar to the TransLink case. The business case was made public after council directed staff to ask TransLink for the document, a request that falls under B.C.'s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
TransLink did not provide the city with a copy but publicly released the document soon after.
The actual costs were blacked out in the report, but Corrigan said the city doesn't have the ability to get that information as TransLink would likely refuse to release it.
Trade secrets of a public body or the provincial government are protected under the act.
"Much of the financial information is hidden from the public so we never really know the hidden costs," he said.
"It's all put in present-day values, but the actual costs aren't disclosed."
"It certainly should make the public paranoid about where the money is going," Corrigan added.
The project is estimated at $170 million, with the province covering $40 million, and the federal government contributing up to $30 million from the Building Canada Fund, to go towards faregates and station improvements.
TransLink is putting forward the majority of funding - $100 million for the project.
The city also wrote to B.C.'s audi-tor general, John Doyle, asking him to look into TransLink's business case, but Doyle responded that he is limited as a provincial government reporting entity and TransLink is not within his jurisdiction.
Corrigan does not believe Doyle doesn't have the ability to look into provincial money spent by TransLink.
"We think he does," Corrigan said. "We think he's choosing not to deal with it."
"He appears not inclined to chase after what's going on at TransLink," Corrigan added.
