Anticipating future development, C-Tran’s board of administrators on Tuesday unanimously permitted the company’s $93.1 million funds for 2025 and $98.4 million funds for 2026.
Employees reported that ridership throughout the system elevated about 10 p.c since final yr, nearly reaching the pre-pandemic ranges of 2019.
Some routes are performing higher than others. C-Tran’s two bus fast transit Vine routes are seeing particularly excessive ridership numbers, outperforming each different route. And weekend ridership has surpassed the 2019 common and continues to develop.
“It’s time to take a victory lap,” stated Bart Hansen, who represents the Vancouver Metropolis Council on the C-Tran board. “We’re seeing some real growth here in ridership and that’s something to get excited about.”
The transit company has two-year funds cycles. In December 2022, the board handed budgets of $76.4 million for 2023 and $82.2 million for 2024.
C-Tran expects its revenues in 2025 to be $116.7 million. That features passenger fares ($3.2 million), gross sales taxes ($87 million) and working grants ($16.4 million), as nicely different sources like curiosity revenue.
Company officers anticipate $115.1 million in working bills in 2025, with $42.6 million going towards salaries and wages, $22.5 million going towards advantages, $11.4 million going towards companies and $12.2 million going towards provides, in addition to different bills like utilities and insurance coverage. The funds additionally contains about $22 million in depreciation and amortization, bringing web working bills to $93.1 million.
The transit company expects to develop this yr. Its 2024 funds was primarily based on 497 full-time equal workers. The proposed 2025-2026 funds plans for 521 workers in 2025 and 538 in 2026.
C-Tran anticipates elevating $116.6 million in income in 2026, $3.4 million coming from passenger fares, $89.6 million from gross sales tax income and $16.3 million from working grants, in addition to different sources like curiosity revenue.
Employees anticipate complete working bills in 2026 to be $120.4 million, with $46.8 million going towards salaries and wages, $24.9 million going towards advantages, $10.1 million going towards companies and $12.1 million going towards provides, in addition to different bills like insurance coverage and utilities. The funds additionally contains about $22 million in depreciation and amortization, bringing web working bills to $98.4 million.