New affordable shuttle bus service to Abbotsford International Airport | Daily Hive

New affordable shuttle bus service to Abbotsford International Airport takes off

Disney-themed WestJet plane at Abbotsford International Airport (YXX). (Abbotsford International Airport)

With a growing volume of air passengers now streaming through Abbotsford International Airport (YXX), there is a need to improve its ground transportation links across the Lower Mainland.

Such a link has now been established by the brand new Abbotsford Airport Shuttle service, which now runs between the YXX terminal building and SkyTrain King George Station in Surrey City Centre, with just one stop at Gloucester Business Centre located near Highway 1’s interchange with 264th Street in Langley Township.

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The service, operated by ACE Charters, is relatively affordable at $11.50 per ride each way. Passengers can reserve their spot online.

Compared to other options, this shuttle is relatively frequent, making six scheduled trips each way throughout the day, with the first bus leaving King George Station at 6 am and the last bus at 6:45 pm. For departing from YXX, the first bus is at 7:15 am and the last bus is at 8 pm. The service runs once about every two hours and 30 minutes.

The end-to-end travel time is roughly one hour, with estimated times slightly longer during peak periods in the peak traffic direction.

Existing shuttle bus services serving YXX include Reliable Bus serving downtown Vancouver and SkyTrain Lougheed Town Centre Station in Burnaby, with a rate of $35 each way, as well as Ebus at $35 each way serving Guildford Town Centre in Surrey and $47 each way to Pacific Central Station (SkyTrain Main Street-Science World Station) near downtown Vancouver. Rider Express also runs between YXX and Guildford Town Centre or Pacific Central Station for $43 each way.

Alternatively, YXX is served by Uber, with the cost of a ride being roughly $60 each way to/from King George Station in optimal traffic conditions and when surge pricing is not in effect.

Recently, BC Transit extended its No. 66 Fraser Valley Express bus route to provide it with a new western terminus location of Lougheed Town Centre Station, but its Abbotsford stop is about a 15-minute drive from the airport. It should be noted that at the time of writing, all BC Transit services in the Fraser Valley are currently temporarily suspended due to the ongoing labour dispute. The No. 66 express has a standalone cash fare of $5 per ride.

In 2028, the opening of the 16-km-long SkyTrain Expo Line extension along Fraser Highway reaching Langley City Centre could potentially provide a closer starting point for bus services to YXX.

In 2022, YXX’s air passenger volume quickly rebounded to its pre-pandemic volumes. It recorded 993,000 passengers in 2022 — just shy of its all-time historic record of 1.008 million passengers in 2019, which was built from several years of double-digit percentage passenger growth in the years leading up to the pandemic. YXX is owned and operated by the City of Abbotsford.

YXX is currently served by Flair Airlines (Toronto-Pearson, Calgary, Edmonton, Kitchener/Waterloo), and WestJet (Toronto-Pearson, Edmonton, Hamilton, London, and seasonal destinations of Puerto Vallarta and San Jose del Cabo).

Look who arrived at #YXX #westjet @WestJet pic.twitter.com/qc03i9JYCU

— Abbotsford Airport (@yxxairport) March 8, 2023

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