TransLink: What's next for transportation in Metro Vancouver?
Chief Executive Officer
TransLink
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Stantec - Getting back to business: Strategies for developing a safe return-to-work plan during the COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond. A Workplace Transformation Guidebook
Kevin Desmond
The world has changed immeasurably since TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond’s last annual address to Metro Vancouver’s business community.
Like many businesses, TransLink has had to rethink many aspects about how it delivers its services due to the pandemic, but it hasn’t changed the why. A robust transportation system is still key to our region’s long-term prosperity.
In the fall of 2019, TransLink was hot on the heels of being named the top transit agency in North America, breaking ridership records, delivering historic levels of transit investments, all while developing its new 30-year strategy, Transport 2050.
COVID-19 changed everything. In the blink of an eye, it fundamentally reconfigured the way in which many of us live our lives: remote work, virtual learning and roadside patios are all part of this new reality. While the pandemic poses an existential question to the traditional transit model, TransLink is focused on keeping the system safe, and simultaneously planning for a sustainable post-pandemic transportation system. There are still many questions to address, and public health, road congestion and climate change are all still top of mind issues.
Tune in to learn about how TransLink is thinking about the future of transportation, recovery and some of the big questions they’re tackling to keep our cities moving.
About the speaker:
Kevin is an experienced executive with a career built in the public transportation industry. As Chief Executive Officer of TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transportation authority, he oversees planning, financing, and management of a region-wide multimodal transit network that includes bus, SkyTrain, SeaBus, HandyDART and West Coast Express, with over 7,800 employees.
Kevin has pioneered an array of operational, fleet, technology and market development initiatives over the years and has a long-standing commitment to progressive environmental policies and investments. These initiatives were recognized last year when TransLink was awarded the American Public Transit Association’s (APTA) Transit System of the Year Award for its 2016 to 2018 systemwide achievements.
Prior to joining TransLink, Kevin was General Manager of King County Metro Transit serving the Seattle metropolitan region. Before King County, Kevin was Vice-President of Operations and Development at Pierce Transit in Tacoma, Washington. And before relocating to the West Coast, Kevin held the position of Chief of Operations Planning for New York City Transit.
Kevin has a master’s degree in public administration from New York University. He is an executive committee member for the Canadian Urban Transit Association and board director for the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.
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