Anticipating future growth, C-Tran’s board of directors on Tuesday unanimously approved the agency’s $93.1 million budget for 2025 and $98.4 million budget for 2026.
Staff reported that ridership across the system increased about 10 percent since last year, almost reaching the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
Some routes are performing better than others. C-Tran’s two bus rapid transit Vine routes are seeing especially high ridership numbers, outperforming every other route. And weekend ridership has surpassed the 2019 average and continues to grow.
“It’s time to take a victory lap,” said Bart Hansen, who represents the Vancouver City 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 agency has two-year budget cycles. In December 2022, the board passed 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 includes passenger fares ($3.2 million), sales taxes ($87 million) and operating grants ($16.4 million), as well other sources like interest income.
Agency officials expect $115.1 million in operating expenses in 2025, with $42.6 million going toward salaries and wages, $22.5 million going toward benefits, $11.4 million going toward services and $12.2 million going toward supplies, as well as other expenses like utilities and insurance. The budget also includes about $22 million in depreciation and amortization, bringing net operating expenses to $93.1 million.
The transit agency expects to grow this year. Its 2024 budget was based on 497 full-time equivalent employees. The proposed 2025-2026 budget plans for 521 employees in 2025 and 538 in 2026.
C-Tran anticipates raising $116.6 million in revenue in 2026, $3.4 million coming from passenger fares, $89.6 million from sales tax revenue and $16.3 million from operating grants, as well as other sources like interest income.
Staff expect total operating expenses in 2026 to be $120.4 million, with $46.8 million going toward salaries and wages, $24.9 million going toward benefits, $10.1 million going toward services and $12.1 million going toward supplies, as well as other expenses like insurance and utilities. The budget also includes about $22 million in depreciation and amortization, bringing net operating expenses to $98.4 million.
