Category Archives: Transit, Skytrain, LRT

Surrey’s poll on light rail transit

February 16, 2016 By in Surrey Langley White Rock, Transit, Skytrain, LRT Tags: , 3 Comments
Light rail transit, central Phoenix, 2012

Light rail transit, central Phoenix, 2012

Kudos to the City of Surrey for posting detailed tables from its recent opinion survey on light rail transit. Too often, governments hide the results of taxpayer-funded surveys from the taxpayer.

As reported earlier, Surrey is acting outside its jurisdiction in developing a plan for local rapid transit. This activity is intended to move regional, provincial and federal authorities to come up with the cash for detailed design and construction. Surrey is the 12th-largest municipality in Canada, and growing rapidly. City government is hoping that Ottawa in particular will go beyond the conventional limit and pay 50 per cent of the cost of a new stand-alone rapid transit system. Continue reading →

North Surrey’s LRT landscape

January 18, 2016 By in Surrey Langley White Rock, Transit, Skytrain, LRT Tags: , , 1 Comment
The proposed light rail transit network in Surrey, British Columbia showing potential station locations (City of Surrey website, January 2016)

The proposed light rail transit network in Surrey, British Columbia showing potential station locations (City of Surrey website, January 2016)

In a November 2015 post we described a possible route for the Arbutus transit extension in the City of Vancouver. This line would feature both high residential density and major employment nodes along much of its length.

Surrey’s light rail transit proposal, by contrast, traverses long stretches where current density is very low. As an example, this post shows something of the current state of the Guildford leg of the proposed Newton-to-Guildford “L” line. Fraseropolis associate Robert J. Smarz and the editor visited hypothetical station locations along 104 Avenue from Surrey Central to Guildford on a recent Saturday morning. Continue reading →

Light rail for Surrey: “Eyes on the street”

January 13, 2016 By in Surrey Langley White Rock, Transit, Skytrain, LRT Tags: , 5 Comments
1-Surrey Central Station

The pedestrian arcade under the Skytrain line at Surrey Central station, 2011

The City of Surrey posted its animated vision for light rail in 2011, and set up a rapid transit office in the same year. A detailed route plan is finally on the way, we are told, but there is no clarity on who will pay for construction.

Surrey is British Columbia’s second largest municipality by population, and ranks twelfth in Canada as of this post. Under former mayor Dianne Watts, city government invested heavily in the Surrey Central precinct to create a focus for advanced education, culture and technology. Surrey wants to compete with  Vancouver in terms of national profile, employment quality and career opportunity. Rapid transit is part of that story. The hub of the proposed LRT system is to be located at Surrey Central, with connections to the Skytrain line that feeds into Burnaby and Vancouver. Continue reading →

Walking in circles at Lougheed Town Centre

November 26, 2015 By in Burnaby, Transit, Skytrain, LRT, Tricities, Urban Villages Project Tags: Leave a comment
The Lougheed Town Centre mall with 1970s apartment towers

The Lougheed Town Centre mall with 1970s apartment towers

Who would choose a mall parking lot as a place to take a walk?

By the common definition, Lougheed Town Centre is a second-tier mall at the eastern edge of the city of Burnaby, with a Walmart and a London Drugs, and a nearby rapid transit station. Continue reading →