Mayoral candidate calls for SkyTrain study to South Surrey, more BRT lines | Daily Hive

Surrey mayoral candidate calls for SkyTrain study to South Surrey, more BRT lines

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The new Imagine Surrey civic political party is calling for a broader approach to public transit planning in Metro Vancouver’s second most populated city, arguing that the current plan for a single Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line — the King George Boulevard BRT between Surrey City Centre and Semiahmoo Town Centre in South Surrey — within the city will not be enough to address growing transportation challenges.

The party is led by mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk, who is a former Surrey city councillor and former BC NDP MLA for the riding of Surrey-Cloverdale. Earlier this year, Imagine Surrey announced its first candidates for Surrey City Council in the October 2026 civic election.

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“King George BRT is the right project, and the 84 per cent of Surrey residents who told TransLink they support it are absolutely right,” said Starchuk in a statement today.

“But one BRT route is not a transit plan for a city of 700,000. It’s a token. Surrey families are stuck in traffic right now. They need a network — and they needed it yesterday.”

They are pushing for additional measures, including conducting a feasibility study for a SkyTrain extension along the King George Boulevard corridor reaching South Surrey.

While City of Surrey staff have noted that SkyTrain infrastructure could cost roughly 10 times more than BRT, Imagine Surrey argues that this makes early planning even more critical. City staff previously suggested that the BRT right-of-way created could be reused at some point in the future for a permanent rail rapid transit system.

The party is also calling for additional BRT measures as the municipal government reviews TransLink’s proposed design of the King George Boulevard BRT project.

They want the addition of a station near Highway 10 along the King George Boulevard BRT route, along with increased bus service along that corridor. The current design does not include a station between 64 Avenue and the South Surrey Park & Ride, leaving what the party describes as a significant service gap.

“Highway 10 is one of the most critical east-west connectors in our city,” said Starchuk.

“A King George BRT that skips Highway 10 means skipping the businesses, services, and residents that live nearby, and on the route to east Cloverdale. Imagine Surrey calls for City Council to add the stop. Then begin frequent bus service along Highway 10 itself. We have the road. We have the riders. What we’re missing is the service and the BRT stop.”

Additionally, the party is urging for the designation of two additional BRT priority corridors: Scott Road/72nd Avenue — as an upgrade of the existing R6 Scott Road RapidBus — and 104th Avenue/152nd Street.

BRT on both routes, they say, would create stronger north-south and east-west connections across key neighbourhoods, including Whalley, Newton, Guildford, and Fleetwood, while linking to existing SkyTrain stations.

The R6 RapidBus is already showing very strong ridership. In its first full year of service in 2024, it saw 5.246 million annual boardings, with averages of 15,700 boardings per weekday, 12,500 per Saturday, and 10,700 per Sunday/holiday. It has quickly grown into TransLink’s sixth busiest bus route out of nearly 200 bus routes across Metro Vancouver, and the third busiest of the seven B-Line/RapidBus routes.

TransLink recently launched the process of creating a long-term plan to improve the bus route network in Surrey, Langley Township, Langley City, North Delta, and White Rock.

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