VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Times are tough all over and TransLink is no exception.

A new warning from the transportation authority suggests we should get ready for slower and less frequent bus service for at least the next three years. That’s because with the $1.4 billion Evergreen Line a go, and a property tax increase and a fare hike rejected, there is no new money to expand the transit system.

But one urban planning expert says it’s all about priorities.

“I really do think that when it comes to transportation you’re really talking leadership,” says Gordon Price, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University.

“It doesn’t have to be an either or situation. You’ve got to have both, but at this point, we don’t seem to have the leadership that’s able to resolve issues around transit.”

Price says it’s interesting to hear about no new money for transit given the talk of revamping the Pattullo Bridge and the George Massey Tunnel.

“I think if you can make a decision around transportation, it matters not whether you’re talking about asphalt or buses, it really gets back to issues like affordability, sustainability, and really livability of our region,” he explains.

“You’ve got to have a mixed transportation system, no matter how you cut it… but if you’re saying we’ve got as much money as we need for one but not the other, bad decision making, or just absence of decision making, and that’s what I expect will be, I hope, a major issue for the upcoming provincial election.”

Buses on minor routes may be reduced, running hourly instead of every half hour and SkyTrain frequency may also be trimmed during non-peak periods.