SkyTrain vs. LRT the defining political issue in Surrey election

The funds are in place to build the Newton-Guildford LRT line, but a number of candidates for Surrey council are questioning whether the line should be built at all. Even some of those supporting it, such as Coun. Bruce Hayne, are now wavering in whether a second LRT line along Fraser Highway should be built. Many members of the public want SkyTrain to be built in Surrey, instead of LRT. .

 

Nominations for Surrey council and Surrey Board of Education close Friday. Already, candidates for Surrey council are offering diverging perspectives to voters who are considering the merits of LRT vs. SkyTrain.

Outgoing Mayor Linda Hepner hosted the prime minister and premier last week, as they once again announced that the Guildford-Newton LRT project was going ahead. Construction will begin in 2020, and the line will be in operation by 2024 – six years later than Hepner promised in 2014, when she was running for mayor.

The costs are also rising significantly, due mainly to land acquisition and labour costs. The 10.5–kilometre LRT line will cost a total of $1.65 billion.

While Hepner’s chosen successor as Surrey First candidate for mayor, Tom Gill, is an unabashed believer that LRT is the only rapid transit system Surrey needs, it seems that few others outside his slate share that enthusiasm. Surrey First candidates (including council candidate Narima Dela Cruz, whose son Daryl is the president of SkyTrain for Surrey) see the Newton-Guildford line as the first in a number of LRT lines which would extend all over Surrey, including South Surrey.

Members of the public seem to be generally negative towards LRT, with some notable exceptions, mostly from the business community.

Dean Barbour, executive director of the Fleetwood BIA, made a good case for LRT coming through Fleetwood when he was speaking with CKNW's Simi Sara on Friday. He looks at it as good for local businesses and overall community development, which it undoubtedly would be. However, the reality is building SkyTrain or LRT is enormously expensive, and any transit system must first and foremost be designed to move people. 

The concerns of members of the public about LRT are numerous, but one of the most-repeated ones is that trains and vehicle traffic cannot coexist on congested Surrey streets. As LRT will reduce traffic lanes on some parts of 104 Avenue from two each direction to one, congestion will already get worse once construction gets underway – long before LRT trains actually operate.

One of the points made by those who oppose trains on streets is that LRT won’t even be able to operate when there is a major crash on a street. On Saturday (Sept. 8), 100 Avenue was closed for more than eight hours due to a fatal collision which occurred about 8 a.m. between 144 and 148 Streets. Such lengthy closures are common for police investigations into significant crashes. How long will LRT service be suspended when there is a similar crash along 104 Avenue or King George Boulevard?

Gill’s challengers for mayor are skeptical about LRT being the only solution to Surrey’s rapid transit needs. Incumbent Coun. Bruce Hayne, a former Surrey First slate member who is now running for mayor with the Surrey Integrity Now slate, says the LRT project is too far advanced along the Guildford-Newton corridor to stop. However, he also says SkyTrain makes more sense for the longer portion (phase 2) between King George Station and Langley City.

The Proudly Surrey slate, which has Pauline Greaves as its candidate for mayor, also supports going ahead with LRT for the first phase between Guildford and Newton, but its policy statement on transit calls for Surrey to leave TransLink and taking full control of its transit system.

Former mayor Doug McCallum, running with the Safe Surrey Coalition slate, says LRT will not go ahead if he is elected. That assumes a majority of his supporting council candidates are also elected. McCallum spoke with Mike Smyth on CKNW Tuesday, and said that the current congestion on 104 Avenue ensures that trains will only be able to crawl along the street for much of each day. They will be subject to traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, as is the case for vehicles now. LRT trains will get priority green lights to allow them to move ahead of other traffic. McCallum rightly points out that the result will be even more congestion.

McCallum also said that the LRT project should be cancelled altogether and the funds redirected to building SkyTrain along Fraser Highway to Langley City. He said that a lot of design work has been done on SkyTrain in other communities and thus that phase of work should be short.

He also recalled, from his experience on the TransLink board, that both the Canada Line and Evergreen Line were originally proposed as LRT lines. The technology was changed to SkyTrain, and there is no question that both lines are a roaring success.

Independent mayoral candidate Imtiaz Popat is calling for restoration of interurban service on the former B.C. Electric interurban line between Scott Road station and Chilliwack. He does not support either LRT or SkyTrain. This is an intriguing idea, and something I have long felt is worth a much more detailed examination. However, the interurban line, still used by Southern Railway of B.C. freight trains, does not go anywhere near Guildford, Fleetwood, Clayton or South Surrey.

People First Surrey, whose mayoral candidate is Rajesh Jayaprakash, opposes LRT and wants to see SkyTrain instead.

The LRT project has been very slow to come to fruition, largely because there was no committed funding for a long time. The 2015 referendum on imposing an additional sales tax to pay for transit projects, which was defeated, played a big part in that.

The lengthy delay increased costs significantly. Whether the money comes from Ottawa, Victoria, or Surrey, all of us as taxpayers will pay more.

A great deal of planning work and other complicated engineering has already taken place. To stop the project completely would be a waste of tax dollars. Nonetheless, critics’ concerns about trains mixing with vehicle traffic are valid, and every possible mitigation factor must be employed if and when the new system begins operating.

However, no further LRT lines should be built or even planned until there is a vigorous discussion in Surrey about what system would be best for the line along Fraser Highway, and future transit projects. That discussion must be facilitated by Surrey council and fully involve the public. Hopefully the new council will be much more open to public engagement and will actually listen to public input.