Transit referendum: Is TransLink really wasting taxpayers' money?

Since the day the Metro Vancouver transit plebiscitewas announced,those opposed to the proposed 0.5 per cent sales tax have repeatedly attacked TransLink for what they sayis a lack of accountability and waste of taxpayers' money.

• Full coverage of the Metro Vancouver transit referendum
• 'Vicious and personal': Transit referendum critic calls out Yes campaign
• ANALYSIS |Why the transit referendum could be about something much bigger

Jordan Bateman and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) have been the engine driving the No side in this campaign, calling TransLink "one of the country's most wasteful government agencies" with a"stunningly bad record of waste."

The CTF website says the "TransLink elite" want billions to pay for their "legacy dreams."

But many people on the Yes side, including many of the region'smayors and provincial politicians, take issue with the negative claims, saying TransLinkis an efficiently-run organization.

So the CBC looked further to see which side the numbers are really on.

Standard indicators of transit performance

Todd Litman, the executive director with the Victoria Transport Policy Institute,is putting together a comparative transportation database looking at overall performance by region, focusing on three important indicators of transit performance.

(Note:Litman has done contract work forTransLink in the past. He last conducted work for the authority in 2012. His numbers and assessments are agreed upon by a number of international experts and it is common for independent researchers to conduct work for transit authorities.)

The first of Litman's indicators is subsidy per passenger journey, orthe amount of money required to carry each passenger that is notgenerated by fares.

The second issubsidy per passenger kilometre, orthe cost of each kilometre travelled notgenerated by fares.

And finally, there'sfare box recovery ratio, orthe percentage of the transportation agency's operating budget covered by customer payment of fares.

When it come to that first indicator, Litman says Vancouver performs very well.

"Vancouver is about average among Canadian peers, but it is outstanding compared with virtually all U.S. cities," he said.

Litman adds that Metro Vancouver performs very well against other cities of similar size and population as well.

Subsidy per passenger journey across North America

1. Toronto (TTC) $0.74
2. Montreal (Metro) $1.51
3. Metro Vancouver (TransLink) $1.66
4. Calgary $1.68
5. Ottawa / Gatineau (STO) $1.86
6. Minneapolis $3.18
7. Portland $3.95
8. Denver $4.94
9. Seattle $5.34
10. Houston $5.55

TransLink also performs well onsubsidy per passenger kilometre. Litman said that is because of thelarge area it covers.

Subsidy per passenger kilometre across North America

1. Toronto (TTC) $0.08
2. Calgary $0.12
3. Metro Vancouver (TransLink) $0.13
4. Montreal (Metro) $0.17
5. Ottawa / Gatineau (STO) $0.17
6. Minneapolis $0.45
7. Houston $0.51
8. Seattle $0.51
9. Denver $0.51
10. Portland $0.53

The third measuring stick is how much of TransLink's operating budget is recovered at the fare box.

Litman said that number is a function of balancing cost of fares and getting as much money back as possible for operations.

TransLink has the highest average fare for major metro authorities across North America,and in return for that high fare, TransLink has the highest fare box recovery ratio outside of Toronto.

Fare box recovery ratio across North America

1. Toronto (TTC) 76%
2. Metro Vancouver (TransLink) 57%
3. Calgary 52%
4. Ottawa / Gatineau (STO) 51%
5. Montreal (Metro) 50%
6. Minneapolis 31%
7. Portland 27%
8. Seattle 27%
9. Denver 23%
10. Houston 17%

TransLink executive pay

Jordan Bateman and the CanadianTaxpayers Federation has put a strong focus on executive pay as evidence of TransLink waste, especially afterformer CEO Ian Jarvis resigned and Doug Allen took over as interim CEO.

Jarvis has been kept on as a consultant at $30,604 per month although this number could change based on a possible 2014 bonus that has not yet been determined.

Between Jarvis and Allen, TransLink is doling out $65,604per monthin CEO pay ($787,248 annualized).

• NewCEO Doug Allen:TransLink needs to improve relationship with riders
• ANALYSIS |'Heads you win, tails you win': why failed CEO job is best gig going

Litmansaid, while the executive pay is certainly high, it doesn't have a big impact on the bottom line.

"Executive pay represents one or two per cent of TransLink'stotal budget. It is not a significant factor in looking at the overall cost-efficiency of the system," he said.

Surrey transit blogger Daryl Dela Cruz has conducted research comparingthe cumulative executive salaries for other metro regions in Canada. Hefocuseson regions rather than authoritiesbecause there are often multiple authorities per region.

Dela Cruz found that in CEO earnings per capita, Vancouver has surpassed Ottawa since Jarvis resigned and Doug Allen stepped in,but it still trails Toronto and Montreal.

One aspect of the CTF's criticism of administrative waste that holds true is outlined in the 2012 independent TransLink Efficiency Review.

In that review, the auditors say TransLink's corporate overhead costs are high relative to other systems, pointing to redundancies within the administrations of Coast Mountain Bus Company and Transit Police as a prime example.

The critics have also pointed to TransLink'sunused fare gates and floundering Compass Card system which had a combined budget of $194 million and are still not operational as evidence of waste.

• Compass Card program delayed again by TransLink

Those two infrastructure lemonsdon't have any readily-madecomparisons, but certainly don't score any marks for TransLink, especially on the management of capital projects.

Litman adds that comparing capital management from region to region is extremely difficult because of the huge number of variables that go into each project.

Getting bang for your transit buck?

Overall, says Litman, Vancouverites get a good bang for their transportation buck.

"Based on the standard indicators that transportation professionals use, Vancouver does very well," he said.

Are there waste issues with the cost of TransLink executives and administration, andthe unused fare gates and non-functioning Compass Card?

Absolutely. But is TransLink, as the Canadian TaxpayersFederation puts it, "One of the most wasteful government agenciesin the country?"

Based onthe available baseline data used by transportation industry experts, it would appear not.

To hear this story on CBC Radio One's The Early Edition, click on the audio labelled 'Is TransLink as wasteful as the 'No' side says it is?'