Metro Vancouver mayors have enlisted influential new allies representing business, environment and labour to help press their case for new TransLink funding sources to enable an ambitious transit system expansion.

Environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki, B.C. Chamber of Commerce president John Winter and B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair signed an accord Tuesday with the Mayors Council on Regional Transportation that urges the province and Ottawa to join local cities to negotiate new sustainable funding for TransLink.

"We need new thinking about how we pay for the system we all know we need," Suzuki said. "It's high time all levels of government worked together to build healthy communities and a healthier planet."

The mayors' council has embraced TransLink CEO Tom Prendergast's push for $450 million a year in new funding for the transportation authority.

Less than that amount won't deliver even the promised new Evergreen Line let alone other rapid transit extensions, nor expand the system sufficiently to make a serious dent in Metro Vancouver's greenhouse gas emissions.

Nor will it deliver any significant congestion relief as the region's population grows by another million people in the next two decades.

"Unless we get all our ducks in a row and start putting the infrastructure in place for a sustainable transportation system, the region's livability is going to be jeopardized," said Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, who chairs the mayors' council.

She said it's time to end the "scattergun approach" of how TransLink has been financed until now.

"This is pretty significant – environmental, business and labour leaders coming together, united in wanting to make a significant shift from where we've been before."

The provincial government has until now told TransLink it has sufficient funding sources.

But Prendergast says maxing out the existing available sources – including a controversial new vehicle levy and a three-cent jump in fuel tax – will deliver no more than $275 million. That would maintain the system as it is, but allow no more than modest improvements.

And it would require significant property tax hikes, which the mayors are dead set against.

Victoria has been under pressure to allow new funding sources, such as a charge on container shipments, a share of its existing Property Transfer Tax or perhaps a future slice of B.C.'s carbon tax revenues.

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said Tuesday's accord demonstrates widespread support for a solution.

"Right now we've got an unsustainable system," he said. "The solution is going to require everybody at the table, and that includes both senior levels of government."

The mayors' council will vote in late summer or early fall on a new 10-year plan to be tabled by the TransLink board by July 31.

The mayors have no power to change the package that gets presented. They can only vote the proposed funding increases up or down as a block.

If they reject supplementary funding, a base plan prevails based on TransLink's current budget, which would trigger deep cuts in bus service in the order of 40 per cent.

"Failure isn't really an option," Stewart said. "We can't go backward to an unsustainable transit system and to the kind of cuts that would involve."

If the province ignores the group's calls, said Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini, the region will remain "mired in transportation stalemate."

The province committed $14 billion in its 2008 Provincial Transit Plan for upgrades – much of that earmarked for the Lower Mainland – but TransLink says it cannot afford to build the new transit line extensions or buy new buses without operating money to run them.

Watts said she will meet with transportation minister Shirley Bond next week to discuss TransLink funding.

DIAL DOWN TRANSLINK WISH LIST: B.C. CHAMBER

TransLink and area mayors may have to accept a cheaper more modest expansion plan that they'd like.

That's the assessment of B.C. Chamber of Commerce president John Winter.

Although the senior business leader signed an accord brokered by the mayors Tuesday that calls on Victoria and Ottawa to explore new ways to refinance TransLink, he disagrees with civic leaders on key points.

Topping the list is the $450-million funding increase for TransLink the mayors' council says is needed.

"We are probably attempting to do far too much in a short period of time, too much that we can't afford," Winter said.

He said the financial challenges facing TransLink suggest it will "have to revise its plans downward."

He also splits with mayors on property tax hikes, arguing they are justified to help pay for transit upgrades, which he said will deliver higher property values.

He said the province has been "very generous" in its support of TransLink.

"There's one taxpayer," Winter said. "What wells you go to, you end up coming to the same people."

Pushing TransLink's expenses off to the provincial government ultimately means other B.C. regions having to share in the costs of Metro services.

"It's not realistic to expect the people outside the Lower Mainland to pay any more."

Winter also said it's time to consider imposing road pricing, perhaps by tolling all the region's bridges, now that tolls are coming to the new Golden Ears Bridge, the rebuilt Port Mann Bridge and the new Pattullo Bridge.

"Should we be tolling the other untolled bridges?" he asked. "I think we should be talking about it."

Road pricing would deliver a revenue source and would help control use, Winter noted.

He also said TransLink must expand to serve the entire Lower Mainland, from Hope to Squamish or Pemberton.

"To not have the Abbotsford Airport as part of the discussion does not make much sense."

A possible tax on container shipments to support TransLink would be a mistake, he said, adding a history of labour unrest has already put local port terminals at a disadvantage versus competing ports.

Winter said he signed Tuesday's accord with area mayors in the spirit of dialogue because more discussion on possible solutions is needed.