Canada Line

operational

Opportunity When Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics, it created additional momentum for the city to create a rapid transit line connecting the airport with the city and to various Olympic venues. Careful analysis by three levels of government concluded rapid transit could be procured as a P3 and funded by the public and private sectors. The corridor between the cities of Vancouver and Richmond, and the Vancouver International Airport is one of the busiest in the region with more than 288,000 vehicles crossing three bridges over the Fraser River daily. Already congested and at capacity for much of the day, the corridor faced additional pressures from an expanding airport; pressure with which existing bridges were unable to cope. Challenges Develop a 19.5-kilometre rapid transit system separate from traffic that threads through highly developed neighbourhoods and include 16 stations and three water crossings (two bridges and a tunnel). Innovations Using a P3 meant there was a single point of contact for the public, stakeholders, and the Concessionaire, resulting in quick and responsive decision-making, and effective communications and oversight. TransLink makes performance payments to InTransitBC, based on availability, quality of service and achievement of ridership forecasts. InTransitBC is on the hook for performance requirements including operating hours, train frequency, travel times, service staffing, cleaning and maintaining vehicles, environmental management, customer relations standards, and customer service response times. Results The Canada Line opened on-budget and three and a half months ahead of schedule. The public sector remains in control of fare levels, marketing and integration with other public transit. One year after completion, ridership of the Canada Line significantly exceeded projections, serving about 100,000 passengers every day with airport to downtown service taking only 25 minutes. The project has yielded higher revenues than originally anticipated and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 14,000 tonnes annually. The project won several awards including the Project Finance North American Transport Deal of the Year (2005), and was named one of the 100 most innovative and socially significant infrastructure projects in the world by Infrastructure Journal (2010). Learn more at: CCPPP Case Studies

High