News Release. For Release: immediately

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1 :c 0... News Release For Release: immediately Contact: Drew Snider Feb. 13,2011 Phone: (604) Transportation key to Metro Vancouver's global competitiveness TransLink tracks its progress towards sustainability goals As municipal government leaders from across the country wrap up the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainability Conference in Victoria, TransLink is making public its own sustainability policy. Today, cities the world over are in competition for investment and talent. In this contest, Metro Vancouver has always promoted itself as the best place in the world to live, but how can that reputation, confirmed annually by international surveys, be maintained, with the region expected to grow by a million people in the next 30 years? According to the Centre for Sustainable Transportation in Mississauga, Ontario, a sustainable transportation system meets the access needs of individuals and societies safely and healthilyboth for humans and the ecosystem; is affordable, efficient and offers choice of mode; supports a vibrant economy; limits emissions and waste and minimizes consumption of non-renewable resources; and keeps use of renewable-resources to within the planet's ability to reproduce them. TransLink's planning and funding decisions over the past 11 years have been geared towards I meeting that definition. The issue has taken on an even greater importance in the two years since the release of Transport 2040, TransLink's 30-year vision. Transport 2040 recognizes the critical role transportation plays in the economic, environmental and social health of a region and sets out goals and strategies to protect what the region values most while accommodating significant population growth and an aging demographic. Now the region's transportation authority has released Setting a Baseline, its first sustainability report, which measures how well TransLink is delivering Transport 2040 and how well it manages its own business.

2 2 "Setting a Baseline is really the story of TransLink. It covers every area of our work and shows the world what we're doing and what we think our challenges are," said Trish Webb, TransLink's director of corporate sustainabi lity. "It's a 'warts-and-all' view of a unique transportation agency serving the world's most livable city." TransLink set a goal to be a recognized world leader in transportation sustainability when it adopted a sustainability policy in The fact that TransLink was ca lled on to make a key presentation to the FCM conference on the importance of public engagement in achieving sustainability indicates the regard in which it is held in Canada. Setting a Baseline measures TransLink's performance against indicators created by the Global Reporting Initiative and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), as well as some unique to TransLink. TransLink is one of only two North American transportation agencies (New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the other) to become full signatories to the UITP's Sustainable Development Charter and the only one that has produced a report marking corporate and regional indicators. "In business, what gets measured gets done and to that end, we have just set a high standard for sustainability reporting," said Webb. "We've set a goal to lead the world, and this report puts us firmly on path to do that." The report can be read online at translink. ca/~/media/documents/about translink/corporate overview/sustainabili ty/sustainability report.ashx -30-

3 BACKGROUNDER WHAT IS SUSTAINABILlTY? TransLink's Sustainability Commitment The Centre for Sustainable Transportation in Mississauga, Ontario, defines a sustainable transportation system as one which: Allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be met safely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health, and with equity within and between generations, Is affordable, efficient, offers a choice of mode and supports a vibrant economy, and Limits emissions and waste within the planet's ability to absorb them, minimizes consumption of non-renewable resources, limits consumption of renewable resources to the sustainable yield level, reuses and recycles its components, and minimizes the use of land and the production of noise. In 2009 TransLink adopted a Sustainability Policy, became a full Charter Member of UITP (International Public Transportation Association), and appointed a Director, Corporate Sustainability. Within a year, TransLink re-wrote its vision, mission and values statements ( Values.aspx) and undertook a corporate-wide initiative to align the entire enterprise to deliver them. In addition to the Sustainability Policy, TransLink has adopted the following related policies: Environment Policy adopted Oct ( TransLink/Corporate-Overview/Environmental-Po licy.aspx) Emissions Policy adopted June 2006 ( TransLink/Corporate-Overview/Emissions-Policy.aspx) Access Transit Strategy adopted June 2007 ( Info/ Accessi b I e-tra n sit/access-tra n sit/ Access-Tra nsit-strategy. aspx) Customer Service Charter adopted Oct ( link.ca/~ /media/ docu ments/customer info/customer%20service %2 0charter.ashx) Step One in the Sustainability Policy is to establish goals and objectives, benchmarked against other leading agencies around the world.

4 2 Setting a Baseline: Key findings ECONOMY o TransLink plays an important role in the economy but needs better indicators to measure it. We're working to improve those measures. o The Golden Ears Bridge is intended to enhance the economy of the Northeast Sector and the Lower Fraser Valley by enabling more efficient movement of o goods and people. Upgrading the Roberts Bank Rail Corridor to advance the As ia-pacific Gateway Program. FINANCIAL o The TransLink Year Plan provided sufficient revenue to maintain the system, addressing a long-standing structural deficit. o About 70 per cent of funding comes from transportation sources. ENVIRONMENT o TransLink's energy consumption and emissions have increased since 2007 as the size of the fleet has increased. However, the total CO 2 emissions per revenue passenger kilometre declined 2.7 per cent in 2009 over the previous year. o CMBC's anti-idling policy has reduced CO 2 emissions by million kg, with a savings of approximately $500,000 in fuel costs. o Trans it's mode share increased 16 per cent between fall 2004 and fall 2008 CUSTOMERS o Service-hours have increased 20 per cent since o Increase the percentage of jobs and housing within a reasonable walking distance of the Frequent Transit Network (where transit operates every 15 minutes or better, seven days a week, from early morning until the evening). As of 2008,45 per cent of the population and 65 per cent of jobs were within 400 metres of an FTN bus route or 800m of a rapid transit station. o Since the adoption of new procedures (including the Customer Service CharterL customer complaints have dropped significantly: by 10 per cent between 2007 and 2008, and a further 10.8 per cent from 2008 to 2009 (a decline of almost 25 per cent between 2007 and 2009). o TransLink has upgraded its website to improve accessibility for people with o cognitive and physical barriers. Public consultation efforts continue to engage the public in meaningful discussion.

5 3 EMPLOYEES o CMBC has been named a Top 55 Employer for five consecutive years. o TransLink has reduced the number of executive positions and aligned the entire enterprise under a common vision, mission and values. SAFETY AND SECURITY ON SKYTRAIN - the number of criminal acts per 1,000 revenue passengers on SkyTrain has declined from 3.5 in 2007 to 2.9 in a drop of more than 17 per cent. ACCESSIBILITY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES - The percentage of accessible bus. stops in Metro Vancouver has increased from 50 per cent in 2007 to 54 per cent in Setting a Baseline can be read online at ty!sustainability report.ashx. translink!corporate overview/sustainabili For more details on the Sustainability Report, please contact Trish Webb, Director, Corporate Sustainability,

6 News Release For Release: IMMEDIA TEL Y Feb. 10, 2011 Contact: Drew Snider Phone: (604) Olympic transit surge sustained one year later More people-friendly transit, and transit-friendly people in 2010 The large increase in transit usage that followed the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is still evident, one year after the Games. Metro Vancouver's transportation system recorded 26 million boardings during the 17-day Games Time period in February; the average of 1.58 million daily trips was 40 per cent more than a normal weekday. While driving and parking restrictions in Downtown Vancouver during that period left commuters with buses, SeaBus or SkyTrain as their best options, newly re leased ridership data indicate people have continued using public transit and otherwise responded to the TravelSmart message during the Olympics. The number of boardings (each t ime a person gets on a transit vehicle) increased 11.0 per cent over 2009 to just under 348 mil lion. Subtracting February from each year, which was skewed by the Olympics, the total of nearly million boardings in 2010 is 7.8 per cent higher than "The Olympics showed the people of Metro Vancouver what their system can do/' says CEO Ian Jarvis. "It 's gratifying to see that so many of them have stayed." Part of the reason for the increase is the addition of the SkyTra in Canada Li ne, which recorded nearly 38.5 million boardings in TransLink's Fare Audit surveys have found 40 per cent of Canada Line customers use the SkyTrain line as part of an integrated travel plan - connecting from South of Fraser routes or crosstown buses in the city of Vancouver; 60 per cent of Canada Line customers are using it for their entire trip. An interesting figure is a sharp jump in ridership on West Vancouver Transit. "Blue Bus" recorded 9.8 million boardings in Agai n removing the figures for the February months, that represents a 6.4 per cent lift over The Olympics also ushered in a new way of connecting with customers. In summer of 2009, TransLink began using Twitter to send service updates. During the "Free Day" at the opening of

7 the Cana da Line, Twitter gained more followers, and those ranks grew during the Olympics and the socia l media sit e proved to be a va luab le two-way communications tool. Now, Customer Information has a "Designated Twitter" and the ink" account has over 6800 followers. Very importantly, the 2010 Olympics gave Metro Vancouverites a look at the probable transportation scenario 30 years into the future, with strict restrictions on road use in downtown Vancouver and more space given over to peop le and non-motorized private transportation. TravelSmart thinking during the Games helped people consider other ways of getting around, without necessari ly using si ngle-occupant vehicles or public transit during heavily used rush hours. Methods such as teleworking, carsharing, ridesharing and even altering commuting patterns to avoid the "peak of the peak" periods also gained popularity, putting the region on-course to achieve the goal of reducing the percent age of "driver-only" trips to less than 50 by TRANSLINK BOARDINGS vs MODE (total) 2010 (minus Feb.) percentage (total) change (minus Feb.) BUS 220,430, ,799, ,651,647 (1.2 per cent) SEABUS 5,777,870 6,735,157 5,766, per cent SKYTRAIN - ElM 73,067,373 78,965,214 69,391, per cent SKYTRAIN - C 38,447,725 33,183,216 WEST COAST 2,622,492 2,781,642 2,481, per cent EXPRESS TOTAL 313,289, ,729, ,474, per cent -30-