SOUTH COAST BRITISH COLUMBIA TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY 2020 STATUTORY ANNUAL REPORT The South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (TransLink) is required to provide an annual report and audited financial statements to the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation by March 31st. TransLink was the victim of a cyberattack on December 1, 2020. As a result, the provision of this annual report and audited financial statements to the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation has been delayed until May 2021. This report fulfills the reporting obligation to provide: A. A summary of operations during the year with comparison to the strategic transportation plan and the applicable service, capital and operational plans; B. The audited financial statements for the year; C. A summary of the nature of complaints received in the year and actions taken in response to those complaints; D. A summary of the results of the customer satisfaction survey process; E. Amendments to the articles of the Authority; F. A summary of the date, type and outcome of meetings of TransLink’s Board of Directors held during the year; G. Fare Collection Bylaw; H. A summary of tickets issued and collection under Section 248; and I. A summary of Development Cost Charges received, reserve fund balances and expenditures, any waivers and reductions issued. This report should be read in conjunction with the 2020 Accountability Report, in order to obtain a full understanding of the organization and its financial and operational performance. The 2020 Accountability Report will be posted on TransLink’s website. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 4 A. OPERATIONS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 5 1 Transit Service Levels .......................................................................................................................................... 5 2 2020 Investment Plan Status Report .................................................................................................................. 7 3 2020 Financial Plan ........................................................................................................................................... 14 4 2020 Capital Program ....................................................................................................................................... 17 5 Transportation Demand Management ............................................................................................................. 30 6 Short-Term Fares Assessed ............................................................................................................................... 36 7 Borrowings Undertaken in 2020 ....................................................................................................................... 37 B. AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ................................................................................................................... 39 C. COMPLAINTS SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 40 D. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ................................................................................................................................ 46 E. CHANGES TO ARTICLES OF THE AUTHORITY ..................................................................................................... 51 F. BOARD SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 52 G. FARE COLLECTION BYLAW ................................................................................................................................ 59 H. SECTION 248 TICKETS AND COLLECTIONS ........................................................................................................ 63 I. DEVELOPMENT COST CHARGES ........................................................................................................................ 64 South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority—2020 Statutory Annual Report May 2021 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Under the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Act, TransLink is required to prepare an annual report that includes a summary of operations for the year along with a comparison to the organization’s applicable strategic, service, capital and operational plans. This 2020 Statutory Annual Report meets that requirement and includes other reporting obligations such as audited financial statements, complaints and customer satisfaction summaries. This report should be read in conjunction with the 2020 Accountability Report to obtain a full understanding of the organization and the strategic platform that drives its financial and operational performance. The 2020 Accountability Report will be posted on the TransLink website. TransLink’s current strategic plan, applicable to 2020, as defined by legislation, is Phase Two of the Mayors’ 10-Year Vision, or the 2018-2027 Investment Plan (the Plan) approved by the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation on June 28, 2018. This 2020 Statutory Annual Report makes reference to the 2020 year of the Plan. On March 18, 2020, the Government of British Columbia declared a provincial state of emergency and enacted physical distancing measures aimed at slowing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted the movement of people within Metro Vancouver, just as it did across the globe. By mid-April 2020, TransLink’s ridership had fallen to just 17 per cent of pre-COVID levels. In 2020 overall, TransLink’s ridership was only 47 percent of 2019 levels, as people transitioned, almost at once, to working remotely wherever possible and paring all travel back to only what was essential. During 2020, TransLink took the following key steps, in order to respond to this immediate and extraordinary transformation in travel patterns and income streams while continuing to fulfil its role as an essential service provider: • pre-COVID levels of service were maintained; • a COVID-19 Safe Operations Action Program was implemented; • previously planned service expansion was deferred; • the capital program was recalibrated to prioritize only state of good repair programs; and • a hiring freeze was implemented in areas other than operation-critical front-line workers, discretionary expenditures were curtailed and service was redressed where appropriate, resulting in $209.6 million savings relative to Budget and $181.6 million relative to the Plan before interest and amortization. Due to critical shortfalls in operating revenues, together with the recognition of the essential nature of the services TransLink provides to the people of Metro Vancouver, in September 2020, the Senior Government announced $644.0 million in emergency relief funding to TransLink. This funding is intended to offset net operating losses in 2020 and 2021 and support lower fare increases through 2024. Public Sector accounting standards required TransLink to recognize this entire amount of funding in 2020. Looking ahead, in 2021 TransLink will continue to see the effects of the pandemic, with ridership below pre-COVID levels and changed travel behavior in the region. The uncertainty of ridership recovery and the significance of these revenue losses have created a deficit that will persist over the long term. This significant deficit will need to be addressed in the development of our next 10-year Investment Plan and through our continued work with our Senior Government partners. Page 4 of 64 South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority—2020 Statutory Annual Report May 2021 A. OPERATIONS SUMMARY 1 Transit Service Levels The table below provides a summary of conventional transit service hours, Access Transit trips and ridership numbers while comparing 2020 actual results to the Plan. In December 2020, TransLink was the victim of a cyberattack. Immediate action and protective measures were taken by TransLink, including the shut down of multiple network systems. As a result, due to the unavailability of certain applications, service hours for some transit systems had to be estimated, as described below. Alternative estimates have been made to support comparability. Actual Investment Plan Fav/(Unfav) % Change 2020 2020 Over Plan Conventional Transit (thousands of service hours) Conventional Bus1 4,622 4,841 (219) (4.5%) Community Shuttle1 664 684 (20) (2.9%) West Vancouver Conventional Bus 115 142 (27) (19.0%) SkyTrain Expo and Millennium Lines1 1,268 1,384 (116) (8.4%) SkyTrain Canada Line 197 225 (28) (12.4%) SeaBus1 11 14 (3) (21.4%) West Coast Express 18 37 (19) (51.4%) Total Conventional Transit 6,895 7,327 (432) (5.9%) Access Transit Trips (thousands of trips) HandyDART 580 1,309 (729) (55.7%) Taxi Supplement 40 102 (62) (60.8%) Total Access Transit Trips 620 1,411 (791) (56.1%) Ridership2 Ridership (millions of transit journeys) 128 267 (139) (52.0%) 1 Service hours estimated for November and December 2020 are based on the best available data at time of reporting. 2 Ridership in this table is based on delivery of total conventional transit service hours and HandyDART Access Transit service. Conventional Transit Service Levels Conventional transit service hours were lower than