After one year on the job, TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond is still confident he can deliver on his promise to restore public confidence in the mass transit system — with a little more time.

"It takes a while. We need to measure that on an ongoing basis. We have crowded buses all over the region. We can do better on SkyTrain. We need to make the service more reliable," he told host Rick Cluff on CBC's The Early Edition.

Over the past year, the Evergreen SkyTrain expansion has opened, new bus routes have rolled out and the Metro Vancouver Mayors' Council approved $2 billion for a 10-year regional transportation plan.

Desmond said this $2 billion dollar contribution to Phase 1 of the plan has helped with operational costs like increasing service in overcrowded regions.

But he said the big projects will come in Phase 2.

He hopes there will be a substantial federal contribution to TransLink as part of Wednesday's federal budget announcement — and says he hopes that will enough to convince the provincial government to make its own significant contribution.

"That's going to be the leverage point to continue our conversations with the province," he said.

"Those investments are absolutely critically needed. Not only now, but we need to be thinking much longer term."

No SkyTrain to UBC — for now

Nevertheless, the 10-year transportation plan has been criticized by some for not being ambitious enough.

For example, a proposed extension to the Millennium Line SkyTrain at Broadway would terminate at Arbutus Street instead of going all the way to the University of British Columbia to relieve the busy 99 bus route.

Desmond defended this decision.

"A significant portion of the 99 is between Commercial-Broadway and the Arbutus Corridor. So while there's still a lot of demand going out to UBC, a lot of it is within that sector."

He did say, however, he was open to different proposals and "thinking bigger" as long as financial considerations were made.

"You have to do it in a prudent way."

With files from The Early Edition

To listen to the interview, click on the link labelled Translink CEO Kevin Desmond one year later