A Vancouver city councillor is calling Mayor Sam Sullivan's reversal of a pre- election pledge to push for lower transit fares a “broken promise”.

Vision Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie made the comment after Sullivan confirmed to the Georgia Straight that he had changed his pre-election position regarding transit fares. In a November 7, 2005, interview with the Straight, NPA mayoral candidate Sullivan first floated the idea of going back to “pre–COPE” levels of $2 for one-zone travel. He confirmed it again in a November 8 phone interview.

“Absolutely, that's how we get people using transit,” Sullivan said at the time. “The NPA is fiscally responsible and socially responsible. COPE promised to lower fares but in fact raised them in their term, and I think this shows bad faith.”

Once elected ahead of Vision mayoral candidate Jim Green, Sullivan mentioned the issue in his December 5, 2005, inaugural speech in the council chambers.

“The rising cost of transit in recent years is of great concern to students, youth, seniors, and working people throughout the city,” Sullivan said. “I will request that our three TransLink representatives champion options that will allow TransLink to increase bus service and reduce fares back to more affordable levels”.

Nine months later, Sullivan has changed his tune, citing “financial pressures” on TransLink as a primary reason not to expect any fare decreases “in the near term”.

“What I've done so far is I've tried to hold the line on any increases,” Sullivan said by phone on August 24. “We had an opportunity to increase the fares to avoid this parking-stall tax, and there was a lot of political pressure not to do that [introduce the tax]. The alternative was to raise fares.”

Philosophically, Sullivan said he still wants to “keep fares as low as possible”.

“Right now we've found that there's so much financial pressure on TransLink that I don't think we can look at a decrease at this time,” he said. “I would like to get the fares lower, but I don't think it's going to happen in the near term....I wouldn't like to speculate right now.”

As TransLink director during his previous term as a COPE councillor (2002 to 2005), Louie voted in favour of a controversial fare increase””at the December 8, 2004, TransLink board meeting””that took effect on January 1, 2005. Fares have remained the same since, but Louie told the Straight that Sullivan's promise was unrealistic.

“What I would say is that the mayor is not telling the truth that, after 12 years on council, he was not aware how the regional structure of TransLink worked when he made those promises,” Louie said. “So it's a broken promise by our mayor to lower fares.”

David Hendry, an organizer with the Bus Riders Union, fought the 2004 increase. He said he is not surprised by Sullivan's about-face.

“We didn't take his election promise very seriously, given his political leanings,” Hendry said in an August 24 interview. “I don't think that an NPA mayor or councillor has ever advocated for lowering the fares before. Since that promise, he hasn't shown any further indication, and I'm sure he hasn't brought it up at any TransLink meeting to date.”

Vision Coun. Heather Deal was driving down the I-5 when the Straight contacted her for a comment.

“He [Sullivan] kept his promise on [removing social housing at] Southeast False Creek and abolishing the Burrard Bridge bike-lane trial,” she said by phone. “The fare decrease was one of the ones I thought was actually very positive. What his comments say to me is he didn't understand the financial side of it when making what was a hollow election promise. Why did he even promise it? I don't buy it.”

Sullivan told the Straight that it is important to augment the bus system with the awaited Evergreen Line and Canada Line (formerly RAV). Critics charge that rapid-transit projects have hampered the bus-fleet expansion further.