2003/04 – 2005/06 SERVICE PLAN Ministry of Transportation

Goals and Core Business Areas

The ministry’s work is organized into five core business areas:

• Highway Operations
• Transportation Improvements
• Motor Carrier Regulation
• Public Transportation
• Executive and Support Services

The Minister is also responsible for:

• BC Rail and BC Transit. These Crown corporations prepare their own service plans.
• The BC Transportation Financing Authority (BCTFA), a Crown corporation incorporated under the Build BC Act, which owns and finances provincial highway assets. BCTFA activities are covered in MoT’s service plan.
• Rapid Transit Project 2000 Ltd. (RTP2000), a Crown corporation incorporated under the Company Act, which designed and constructed the Millennium Line extension to the SkyTrain rail transit system in the Lower Mainland. RTP2000 operations are also included in MoT’s service plan.

The ministry has established four primary goals. Working toward these goals will assist in the achievement of the ministry’s vision and mission. Each goal is supported by one or more business areas, as follows:

Highway Operations

The Highway Operations business area encompasses four major program areas. They are:

• Maintenance and Traffic Operations, including regional and district operations, pavement marking, avalanche control, rock slope stabilization, and road and bridge maintenance contracts;
• Asset Preservation, including road and bridge surfacing, bridge rehabilitation and replacement, safety improvements, minor betterments, and weigh scale operations;
• Inland Ferries; and,
• the Coquihalla Toll Administration.

Capital rehabilitation expenditures include Oil and Gas II program funding in 2002/03 through 2004/05.

The number of full-time equivalent positions in Highway Operations is forecast to drop by 45 per cent. In large part, this will result from the privatization of selected operations (sign shop, electrical operations, pavement marking, radio systems and inland ferries). A Coquihalla partnership agreement would also reduce the ministry’s staff complement.

Effective April 1, 2003, the ministry is to assume responsibility for commercial vehicle weigh scales, previously with ICBC.

Transportation Improvements

The Transportation Improvements business area encompasses three program areas:

• Transportation Policy and Legislation, providing guidance on the development of transportation, highway and corporate policy and legislation;
• Partnerships, focusing on the development of partnerships with the private sector and other levels of government, and on making efficient use of property under the ministry’s jurisdiction to reduce the cost to taxpayers of new highway facilities; and,
• Planning, Engineering and Construction, responsible for highway planning, capital program development and monitoring, investment strategies, quality management, access management, direction and management of projects, engineering, survey and design, construction, and property acquisition for provincial highways.

Motor Carrier Regulation

The Motor Carrier Regulation business area encompasses two programs:

• The Motor Carrier Commission (MCC), an independent body that regulates the province’s commercial passenger industry (buses and taxis) pursuant to the Motor Carrier Act. The Commission, by delegation pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Transport Act (Canada), also issues licenses for the interprovincial and international road transport of passengers.
• The Motor Carrier Department, the administrative arm of the MCC that carries out investigations associated with motor carrier license applications. With other agencies, the department participates in compliance activities such as road checks, the investigation of complaints and random audits of the records of licensed motor carriers. The department is to be transferred to the ministry from ICBC effective April 1, 2003.

The Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles (OSMV) was formerly part of this business area (previously called Motor Vehicle Regulation). This function more appropriately fits within the mandate of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and is to be transferred to that ministry at the end of March 2003.

Public Transportation

The Public Transportation business area encompasses annual provincial government transfers toward capital, operating, debt servicing and amortization costs associated with public transit and coastal ferry services.

The government transfer to British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. will begin in 2003/04.

The drop in the value of financing transactions after 2002/03 reflects substantial completion of the SkyTrain Millennium Line construction in Greater Vancouver.

Executive and
Support Services

The Executive and Support Services business area encompasses the minister’s and deputy minister’s offices; finance; administration; human resources; facilities management; information systems; service planning, reporting and performance measurement; and freedom of information, protection of privacy and records management.

The number of staff positions in Executive and Support Services is forecast to drop by more than 50 per cent. This reflects anticipated staff reductions in other areas of the ministry, and therefore a reduction in support requirements, plus the transfer of positions to the BC Shared Services Agency. The agency recovers its costs from its clients, so MoT administrative expenditures will not decline in proportion to the reduction in ministry FTEs.