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11 B C B U S I N E S S . C A S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 5 11 TRANSLINK (METRO VANCOUVER) AVERAGE DAILY BOARDINGS, 2024 S o u r c e s : To mTo m , Tr a n s L i n k , B C Tr a n s i t The Victoria Regional Transit System carried 25.4 million passengers in 2023–24. BC Transit, which services 130 other communities in B.C., carries 54 million passengers annually. RANK OF METRO VANCOUVER IN: TRANSIT RIDERSHIP PER CAPITA IN CANADA: NO. 2 (MONTREAL IS NO. 1) BUS RIDERSHIP PER CAPITA IN NORTH AMERICA: NO. 3 Number of overcrowded TransLink-managed bus trips during peak hours in 2024: 137,000 That's an 11.2% share of all trips TRAFFIC INCREASED 116% AT VANCOUVER'S STADIUM- CHINATOWN SKYTRAIN STATION OVER THE THREE DAYS OF TAYLOR SWIFT'S ERAS TOUR PERFORMANCES AT BC PLACE LAST DECEMBER COMPARED WITH AN AVERAGE WEEKEND. MODE MONDAY–FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY BUS 797,980 534,759 447,254 SKYTRAIN 481,214 350,268 279,507 SEABUS 16,633 16,792 13,045 WEST COAST EXPRESS 6,821 - - HANDYDART 2,859 913 783 TOTAL 1,551,339 917,332 753,891 Lonely basement lab- oratories aren't often home to breakthroughs that could affect the future of the planet. But in 2015, electrochemist Benjamin Britton was sitting in Simon Fraser University's industrial 4D Labs, accom- panied by nothing more than test stations and an industrial fan, when what seemed impossible became possible. Britton was working on what's known as an alkaline anion-exchange membrane (AEM) fuel cell and an elec- trolyzer—both precursors to his groundbreaking work as co-founder and chief tech- nology officer of Vancouver cleantech company Ionomr Innovations. For decades, a system that was non- fluorinated, chemically stable and wouldn't rapidly break down in high-temperature, acidic or caustic environments was the goal—one that by many was considered a pipe dream. "There were even papers by some luminaries in the field saying you basically had to break a couple laws of the uni- verse to make these systems last a long time," says Britton with a laugh. Typically, Britton would trigger a specific type of chemical reaction, expecting it to fizzle anywhere from 10 seconds to two hours later. Then, one day, the reaction continued and continued, then continued some more—to the point where, after 30 hours, the SFU Ph.D. candidate dared to leave his work station and go home. "It was just fantastic. It was truly a moonshot," remem- bers Britton, who jokes that he was giving himself high fives for setting world records. "Suddenly we had something that just worked, and it lasted for 400 hours. It was con- sidered orders of magnitude better than anybody could do at the time." That quantum leap led to the formation of Ionomr, a Vancouver cleantech startup that develops ion exchange membranes and polymer solutions that are significantly more durable, more efficient and less costly than other tech- nologies—and don't involve environmentally damaging per- and polyfluoroalkyl sub- stances, also known as PFAS or "forever chemicals." What's B U S I N E S S C L I M AT E CHAIN REACTION How a Vancouver cleantech firm could shape the planet's hydrogen future by Jennifer Van Evra Jennifer Van Evra is an award-winning Vancouver journalist, broadcaster and UBC writing instructor. more, that 400 hours eventually became 15,000. The company's membranes—which either block or pass ions—can be used to drive hydrogen production; power industry, ships and vehicles in hydrogen fuel cells; build storage for intermittent green energy such as wind and solar; help with the recovery of lithium and other chemicals; remediate water through elec- tro-dialysis; support next-gen- eration battery systems and more. As Britton puts it, the technology is the "heart and lungs" of electrochemical systems, allowing them to pump and flow. The company has raised

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