Behind the Canada Line’s New Stop, Years in the Making

How to pay for a new rapid transit station?

The City of Richmond raised the funds by slapping a levy on new development, a novel approach that proved to pay off.

Mayor Malcolm Brodie touted the strategy as a “win-win.”

The brand new Capstan Station is a rare addition to an existing line of the TransLink public transportation network. Located between the Bridgeport and Aberdeen stations of the Canada Line, it had its grand opening just before Christmas.

Plans for Capstan Station have been long in the making and predate the opening of the Canada Line for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The City of Richmond had been hoping to finance the station with a contribution from the developers of a massive project at the Capstan intersection. But in 2009, plans for Sun Tech City — comprising 16 highrises and some 2,000 homes by Concord Pacific and Pinnacle International — were scrapped in the wake of the recession.

In 2012, Richmond tried again.

In return for bonus density, the city charged developers in the area a levy of about $8,500 per new home built.

Richmond needed to raise $27.8 million for the new station, with the rest covered by TransLink. The city estimated that it would have collected that amount by 2027.

Surprisingly, the development boom was greater than anticipated. Richmond had the amount in hand by 2018, which meant that the station could be completed by 2022.

Construction was hit with a number of delays, from clashing development schedules with a nearby project to supply chain issues.

With fanfare that included a lion dance and samples from a vending machine that squeezes juice from fresh oranges, Capstan Station opened on Dec. 20, 2024.

“Creative partnerships and shared goals resulted in an amenity that will benefit the entire community without a financial burden to local government,” said Mayor Brodie at the event.

Capstan Station’s final price tag was $62 million, with Richmond ultimately chipping in $32.2 million that it collected from developers, including Concord Pacific, Polygon Homes, Pinnacle International and Yuanheng.

TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn added that the financing arrangement was the “first of its kind.”

“Together, we have shown how innovative funding solutions and successful partnerships can enable major projects like this to succeed,” he said.

‘Win-win’ for all

Todd Litman, the executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, would agree with the mayor’s assessment.

“Everybody benefits: users benefit, motorists benefit, the community benefits,” said Litman. “It can reduce car ownership. It reduces traffic congestion and parking problems.”

That’s important relief for No. 3 Road, Richmond’s narrow commercial corridor, along which the Canada Line travels.

As for the $8,500 levy, developers in the Capstan area say they’ve passed it on to homebuyers. However, Litman says that cost is “insignificant” compared with the money households can save by choosing to live near rapid transit.

“The amount we’re talking about is tiny,” he said. “The potential financial gains are huge.”

That fee doesn’t translate to much more in mortgage payments, he argues, and it’s offset by greater savings if a suburban household can cut down from two cars to one.

Plus, when a household near rapid transit decides to sell their property, they’ll enjoy a bigger jump in value than if they purchased a home somewhere more remote.

“The inefficiency of suburban life is needing to drive everywhere,” said Litman.

As a result, investments in rapid transit like the Canada Line are crucial to solving gridlock in growing suburbs like Richmond.

The next station is...

TransLink has constructed an additional rapid transit station to serve an existing line only once before. It built Lake City Way Station, a SkyTrain stop on the Millennium Line, in 2003 at the urging of the City of Burnaby.

Capstan Station, however, was one of three proposed additions to the Canada Line that experienced limbo. The other two would have been 33rd Avenue and 57th Avenue in Vancouver.

TransLink has no plans to build either, even though Vancouver had already collected $20 million from one developer and continues to preserve space to accommodate one at 57th Avenue.