Why does the $5 'AddFare' exist on the Canada Line for trips from Vancouver airport?

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But the base fare can also vary widely depending on the time and day of travel.

All fares across the public transit network become a one-zone fare on weekday evenings after 6:30 p.m. and throughout weekends and holidays. With the $5 YVR AddFare included, this time-based, one-zone discount reduces the cost of such a trip from the airport to downtown Vancouver — typically a two-zone fare — to $7.60 on Stored Value and $8.20 by cash or Tap to Pay.

It should be noted that starting on July 1, 2025, the Stored Value’s one-zone and two-zone fare will go up from $2.60 to $2.70 and $3.85 to $4, respectively. This increases the cost of such trips from the airport to $7.70 and $9, respectively. By cash or Tap to Go, the base fares will reach $3.35 for one-zone and $4.85 for two zone, and when combined with the YVR AddFare, this grows the total fare from the airport to downtown Vancouver to $8.35 and $9.85, respectively.

TransLink’s monthly passes are exempt from the extra YVR Airport AddFare Surcharge for trips originating from the airport island. As well, there is no fare for all trips performed within Sea Island, as the Canada Line doubles as an airport people mover linking airport employment hubs and parking lots. Residents of the Sea Island’s small residential neighbourhood of Burkeville are also exempt from the YVR AddFare.

YVR AddFare set to increase for the first time ever in 2026, growing to $6.50

In early May 2025, TransLink and the Mayors’ Council approved the first-ever increase to the YVR Airport AddFare surcharge. The move is intended to generate additional revenue to help close the public transit authority’s fiscal gap — not only preventing major service cuts but also enabling service expansion to meet growing demand.

Starting on July 1, 2026, coinciding with the annual fare increase to the regular zone-based system, the YVR AddFare will go up by $1.50 from $5 to $6.50. When it goes into effect next year, it will be the first-ever increase to the YVR AddFare in its 17-year history. This is still lower than the rate of inflation experienced since 2009; if the YVR AddFare were adjusted to real inflation, it would be $7.17 in 2025.

Then, beginning in 2027, the YVR AddFare will go up by two per cent annually.

The zone-based fares will also go up by an average of five per cent on July 1, 2026, followed by an average two per cent increase in 2027.

In contrast, the Union Pearson Express (UP Express) train between downtown Toronto and Toronto Pearson International Airport currently charges $12.35 per adult for a one-way trip, with lower fares of $9.25 available when using a Presto Card, along with various group and concession discounts. Both the UP Express and the Canada Line offer end-to-end travel times of around 25 minutes between the airport terminal and the city centre. However, while the Toronto service operates as a limited-stop express train, the Vancouver service functions as a regular metro line with more frequent stops along the route.

The fare on the Link LRT between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and downtown Seattle is US$3 each way for adults, with a travel time of roughly 40 minutes. On the BART metro, it is an approximately 25-minute ride between San Francisco International Airport and downtown San Francisco, and adult fares are set at US$11.15.

Why does the YVR AddFare exist?

This raises the broader question of why the YVR AddFare exists — a surcharge that serves more than just the purpose of charging visitors extra.

It should also be noted that none of the revenue from the YVR AddFare goes to Vancouver International Airport.

When asked, a TransLink spokesperson told Daily Hive Urbanized the YVR AddFare helps cover a part of the original construction costs of the Canada Line.

It specifically goes to ProTransBC (InTransitBC) — a subsidiary of AtkinsRealis (formerly known as SNC-Lavalin) and the private operator of the Canada Line. In addition to operations and maintenance, as the project’s concessionaire, they designed, built, and partially financed the Canada Line under a unique public-private partnership (PPP or P3). At the time the agreement was finalized in the 2000s, this PPP was deemed the first of its kind in Canada.

“The YVR Funding Agreement allows TransLink to charge AddFare at the three SkyTrain stations on Sea Island to repay the concessionaire for a portion of the Canada Line’s capital expenses. This agreement is between TransLink, YVR, and Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc.,” the TransLink spokesperson told Daily Hive Urbanized.

The total cost to build the Canada Line came to $2.054 billion, including $720 million contributed by the private consortium led by AtkinsRealis, and the remainder covered by the provincial and federal governments, TransLink, Vancouver Airport Authority, and City of Vancouver. As part of the agreement, the consortium also assumed responsibility for covering any project cost overruns upfront — a provision that helped protect taxpayers from financial risk. Given the highly contentious debate surrounding the Canada Line at the time, this funding model was viewed as a way to ease public concerns about potential budget overruns.

“The PPP model delivered significant protection from cost overrun,” according to a 2021-published journal by Towson University assistant professor Robert Sroka, noting that the consortium paid $720 million as “‘capital at-risk’ against future underperformance” of its operations and maintenance standards.

“This is substantially offset by the significant yearly payments InTransit is entitled to from TransLink under the concession for operation and maintenance, as well as performance metrics and inflation. InTransit’s $720 million at risk is intended to be repaid over concession’s life through meeting performance targets,” wrote Sroka.

“A $90 million yearly payment starting in 2010 adjusted for three per cent inflation over 30 years equates to a future value of $4.28 billion, or a 2010 present value of $1.76 billion. Even if the true operational and maintenance costs for InTransit are estimated at up to 50 per cent, the concessionaire is still recovering a significant profit on their capital.”

The strong financial returns generated from CDPQ’s investment in the consortium behind the Canada Line played a key role in shaping the Quebec pension fund’s expanded ambitions in transportation infrastructure. Encouraged by the success of this public-private partnership, the pension fund went on to pursue larger-scale infrastructure projects — most notably Montreal’s new REM metro network. This 67 km, fully automated, SkyTrain-like rapid transit network opened its first segment in 2023 and is slated for full completion by 2027, including a direct link to Montreal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

TransLink’s annual payments to the consortium during the Canada Line’s infancy grew from $90 million in 2010 to $107 million in 2014.

Through the initial annual payments, the consortium’s “deferred concessionaire credit” decreased from $720 million in 2009 to $596 million in 2014.

The deferred concessionaire credit is the amount of money that the consortium put into building the Canada Line. Instead of paying the private sector partners back all at once, TransLink is spreading out the repayment over the length of the 30-year operating and maintenance contract.

According to TransLink’s 2024 annual report, the deferred concessionaire credit has since further fallen in size to $363 million — half of the consortium’s original contribution, not accounting for inflation.

TransLink’s total estimated base operating and maintenance payments to the consortium — adjusted for operational metrics and estimated inflation — is forecast to reach $142 million in 2025, $146 million in 2026, $149 million in 2027, $152 million in 2028, and $155 million in 2029. TransLink makes such payments every 28 days; in 2025, the payments average at roughly $10.9 million for each four-week period.

$19.2 million annual payments by the B.C. government to TransLink to cover a portion of Canada Line costs

As it turns out, according to the annual reports, TransLink also receives an annual operating subsidy from the provincial government to help cover a portion of the public transit authority’s regular payments to the concessionaire.

Under an agreement, the provincial government provides TransLink with $1.478 million at each 28-day period for 395 periods or 30 years — the life of the concessionaire’s operating and maintenance contract. This payment by the province fluctuates slightly each year, as the sum is reduced for penalties or deductions related to service quality or availability.

In 2024, the provincial government provided $19.248 million to TransLink in relation to the Canada Line. The previous payments were $19.219 million in 2023, $19.205 million in 2022, $19.233 million in 2021, $19.284 million in 2020, and $19.221 million in 2019.

These provincial payments have remained constant at about $19.2 million annually since the Canada Line’s opening, with no adjustment for inflation. Over the 395 payment periods over 30 years, the provincial government is expected to provide TransLink with nearly $600 million toward covering the concessionaire’s costs.

The consortium’s contract to operate and maintain the Canada Line will expire in July 2040.

It remains to be seen whether the contract for the Canada Line’s private operations and maintenance will be renewed, or if these day-to-day responsibilities will be transferred to B.C. Rapid Transit Company — the TransLink subsidiary that manages SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines, as well as the West Coast Express.

“The YVR funding agreement is separate from the Canada Line agreement with InTransit BC which expires in 2040, it is far too soon to say what will happen at the end of that contract,” stated the TransLink spokesperson when asked about the possibility of renewal.

B.C. government agreement provides TransLink with $2 billion through 2050 for toll-free Golden Ears Bridge

Similarly, TransLink is also making regular payments to the private consortium that designed and built the Golden Ears Bridge, and has an operating, maintenance, and rehabilitation concessionaire contract through June 2041, all under a public-private partnership. The bridge reached completion in June 2009 at a cost of about $810 million.

In 2006, TransLink signed a contract with the private consortium Golden Crossing General Partnership. Instead of paying everything upfront, TransLink agreed to make regular monthly payments, which include both principal (the cost of the bridge) and interest.

According to the public transit authority’s 2024 annual report, the last monthly payment for 2024 was made on Dec. 8. Because of that, about $4.1 million in interest that accumulated from Dec. 9 to 31 still needs to be paid and is listed as a short-term liability.

The base monthly payment is about $4.8 million, not including inflation increases, and the interest rate on this arrangement is effectively 6.7 per cent per year. That interest rate was calculated to make sure the total of all future payments (adjusted for inflation) equals the original cost of building the bridge.

As of the end of 2024, TransLink owes the consortium $965 million, with the year seeing an interest accretion of $67 million and the public transit authority making total payments of about $86 million throughout the year. This is down from the year-end balance of $983 million in 2023, with $67.4 million growing from interest and TransLink reducing the balance by making payments totalling $83.5 million.

TransLink forecasts it will make total capital and interest payments to the bridge’s builder and operator of $84.2 million in 2025, $85.9 million in 2026, $87.5 million in 2027, $89.2 million in 2028, and $91 million in 2029.

Since September 2017, shortly after the BC NDP-led provincial government came to power, tolls have been removed from the region’s bridge crossings, including the Golden Ears Bridge.

In exchange for the toll-free crossing between Langley and Pitt Meadows/Maple Ridge, the provincial government has been subsidizing TransLink’s ongoing costs related to the Golden Ears Bridge.

In 2018, for the first full year without tolls, the provincial government provided TransLink with $57.9 million to replace the toll revenues. Such payments from the B.C. government increased to $60 million in 2019, $62.4 million in 2020, and $64.8 million in 2021.

In March 2022, TransLink and the provincial government reached a “new agreement” to receive an “upfront payment” of $2 billion as “settlement for TransLink’s forgone toll revenue” from April 2022 to December 2050.” Subsequently, in relation to the Golden Ears Bridge’s ongoing costs, TransLink received provincial payments of $66.6 million in 2022, $67.3 million in 2023, and $67.9 million in 2024.

“The agreement stipulates that TransLink is not to charge tolls to users of the Golden Ears Bridge for any crossings and to keep the Golden Ears Bridge open and operational for public users, except for permitted closures specified in the agreement,” reads the latest annual report.

“TransLink will be liable to repay the Province for the related portion of the upfront payment contingent upon if there are any defaults of the stipulations contained in the agreement. The funding received was internally restricted for future operations and capital projects. The Authority recognizes the funding as revenue over the period of the forgone toll revenue.”

Canada Line ridership still below pre-pandemic

The latest ridership figures from TransLink show a total of 42.1 million boardings were recorded on the Canada Line throughout 2024, representing a very strong rebound from the earlier pandemic lows, but still well below the high of 50.2 million in 2019.

In 2024, the Canada Line saw averages of 126,000 boardings per weekday, 101,000 per Saturday, and 85,000 per Sunday/holiday.

This represents a decline from the 2019 averages of 152,000 boardings on weekdays, 117,000 on Saturdays, and 97,000 on Sundays/holidays. Canada Line ridership in 2024 more closely resembled levels seen around 2015 — likely a result of the continued prevalence of hybrid and remote work since the pandemic. Ridership to and from stations in Central Broadway and downtown Vancouver remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels.

The Canada Line’s 84 per cent ridership recovery in 2024 compared to pre-pandemic volumes is behind the recovery rate of 93 per cent on the Expo and Millennium lines.

However, ridership on the Canada Line’s segments serving Sea Island and Richmond City Centre/No. 3 Road has seen a much stronger recovery compared to other segments, with 2024 volumes sitting only about 10 per cent below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Total ridership at YVR Airport Station reached 2.92 million boardings in 2024, with averages of 8,200 per weekday, 7,400 per Saturday, and 7,800 per Sunday/holiday. This nears 2019’s performance of 3.14 million boardings — averaging 8,800 per weekday, 7,700 per Saturday, and 8,500 per Sunday/holiday. Sea Island Centre Station and Templeton Station also came very close to their pre-pandemic figures.

Canada Line ridership is expected to grow significantly in the coming years and decades, driven by continued high-density development along Vancouver’s Broadway and Cambie Street corridors, as well as Richmond’s No. 3 Road corridor. Rising air passenger volumes at Vancouver International Airport — now nearing the all-time record set in 2019 — and overall tourism growth will also contribute to increased demand. Additional ridership growth is anticipated with the opening of the new Oakridge Park mall and, much more notably, the 2027 launch of the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension, which will establish Broadway–City Hall Station as a major regional interchange hub with the Canada Line.

The concessionaire agreement for the Canada Line has been revised several times, including for the 12 new additional two-car trains that arrived in 2019/2020 to significantly boost capacity, the addition of Capstan Station, and the seamless integration of the Canada Line at Broadway-City Hall Station with the Millennium Line extension.

As for vehicle traffic volumes on the Golden Ears Bridge, its growth has been relatively limited up until 2017, when the tolls were first removed. Even in 2021, volumes were hovering at an average of roughly 70,000 per day — double the daily figure of about 36,000 in 2017.

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