New Westminster – The future of local and regional transportation is at a crossroads as TransLink pushes forward with its Transport 2050 plan. Mayor Jonathan Coté is inviting New Westminster residents to learn more about emerging transportation planning directions and meet new TransLink Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kevin Quinn in a special livestream chat on Thursday, December 9, 2021.

The ability to keep people and goods moving freely around the region is becoming increasingly complex. A growing regional population, the need to transition to more sustainable transportation modes, and travel pattern impacts such as spiraling real estate prices and more people working at home are just some of the challenges being grappled with by planners and regional decision makers.

“Effective transportation is vital to livable communities, economic viability and long-term regional sustainability,’ says Mayor Coté who chairs the regional Mayor’s Council on Transportation. “It’s particularly important here in New Westminster, where we face many local mobility challenges, while also dealing with a huge daily influx of regional traffic passing through our community.”

In October, TransLink released the first full draft of Transport 2050, the region’s strategy for the next 30 years of transportation in Metro Vancouver. The draft strategy lays out a vision for the region’s future, as well as over 100 recommendations to improve transportation over the next three decades. Some key recommended actions over the next 30 years include quadrupling the rapid transit network, completing an 850-kilometre traffic-separated Major Bikeway Network and promoting electric and shared vehicles such as bikes, scooters, and cars. A full copy of the plan is available at transport2050.ca.

“Transport 2050 will transform the way we move and live,” said Quinn, who became TransLink CEO in July. “We conducted the largest public outreach in TransLink’s history to develop the plan as it’s imperative our transportation future is guided by the people who live and work here in the region. I look forward to continued dialogue as we move forward with this process.”

Livestream zoom participants will be able to put their transportation questions to Mayor Coté and Kevin Quinn on Thursday, December 9 at 6:30 pm. Questions can be submitted in advance by email to or during the conversation on Zoom: https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/63413878071. The event will also be streamed live on the City of New Westminster’s Facebook page. A video of the discussion will be posted on the New West Matters page on the City’s website, for post event viewing.

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Media Contact:

Sophie Schreder
Executive Assistant to the Mayor
City of New Westminster
604-527-4522 or