Frankly Speaking

One of the SkyTrains heads for King George Station, the final one on the Expo Line. It opened in 1994 and represents the final extension of rapid transit into Surrey. Stock photo by Alamy. The University of B.C. wants an extension of the SkyTrain Millennium line to come all the way to its Point Grey campus, and is prepared to help pay for it. The cost to extend the line from the current proposed end point of Arbutus Street in Vancouver could top $3 billion. While UBC’s concern for students is understandable, it is this type of thinking that has punished Surrey and other South Fraser residents for decades. Residents of the South Fraser area have endured substandard transit service, along with congested roads and bridges, with no significant transit improvements for more than two decades. Meanwhile, the population of the South Fraser region continues to grow at a rate far higher than the Burrard Peninsula. Residents need to let TransLink and local mayors know, in no uncertain te...

Frank Bucholtz photo A SkyTrain rolls into the Lafarge Lake-Douglas station at the end of the Evergreen Line on Friday, Dec. 2, opening day for the extension of the rapid transit system. Friday was a day that many Tri-City residents thought would never come. The 11 kilometre extension of SkyTrain into Coquitlam and Port Moody, the Evergreen Line project, was officially opened by Premier Christy Clark and local mayors. Passengers started boarding the trains at 12 noon. The Evergreen Line has been a long time coming. First promised even before the Millennium Line opened in 2002, it was put on the shelf many times. Its history is instructive of the challenges involved in building rapid transit in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, and of the many twists and turns which inevitably occur when a project does finally get the green light. Way back in 1980, the provincial government decided on SkyTrain as the long-awaited rapid transit technology that would be used in the Lower Mainland. I cov...

Construction work on an LRT line in Surrey may be underway by 2018, fulfilling a campaign promise from Mayor Linda Hepner. There’s a good chance that Mayor Linda Hepner’s campaign promise of LRT coming to Surrey will be fulfilled. Hepner initially said during the fall 2014 municipal campaign that there would be an LRT line up and running within four years. In other words, in time for the next election. She later backtracked slightly, saying that she expected the line would be under construction by 2018. Hepner was given a massive endorsement by voters, with her Surrey First slate winning all nine council seats. Since the election, she was named vice-chair of the Mayors Council and, along with chair and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, pushed for a “yes” vote in a referendum on additional funding for TransLink. That of course failed, at least partially because of over-the-top spending by TransLink and local governments to try and ensure a positive outcome. However, sin...

This week's column in the Surrey Leader and Peace Arch News The Surrey LRT project championed by Mayor Linda Hepner is a step closer to reality, with the  confirmation Monday that a Conservative federal government will fund one-third of the cost, up to $700 million. Naturally, the Conservatives had Dianne Watts, Hepner’s popular predecessor and candidate in South Surrey-White Rock, make the announcement, along with Industry Minister James Moore, who is not running in the election. Watts had been scheduled to make the announcement with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sept. 3, but the dramatic news about members of a Syrian refugee family who had hoped to come to Canada and died at sea changed the focus of the planned news conference. LRT was not mentioned. Hepner promised in last fall’s municipal election campaign that the first phase of LRT would be up and running by 2018. On Monday, she revised that estimate, saying that she now hopes work will be well underway by t...