Opinion: SkyTrain should be built in Vancouver, not Langley

Opinion: Time to double down on SkyTrain extensions in Vancouver, not Langley

2023 updated artistic rendering of the Mark V SkyTrain car. (TransLink)

Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Nathan Jang, who is a resident of Vancouver.

Since the creation of SkyTrain Millennium Line in 2002, it was envisioned by the local and provincial governments to extend it further from its current terminus at VCC-Clark Station to the University of British Columbia (UBC), replacing the 99 B-Line — busiest bus route in Canada and the United States.

After two decades of pursuing funding for this extension, the provincial and federal governments provided it — but only enough for a Millennium Line extension reaching Arbutus Street, not all the way to UBC.

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The senior governments failed to provide a rapid transit solution to overcrowded buses that ran every three minutes, which students, professors, and faculty staff had to experience for decades.

However, the government is providing a 16 km long Expo Line extension to rural, suburbia Langley, where there is no B-Line, RapidBus, or any bus route that deserves a SkyTrain replacement. For me and many others, this was the point in time when I felt that the provincial and federal governments failed not only the users of the 99 B-Line but the high proportion of Vancouverites who use public transit.

In comparison, eight of the 10 busiest bus routes in Metro Vancouver operate within Vancouver, according to TransLink statistics. Of these routes, only the 99 B-Line is within sight of being replaced with SkyTrain. Vancouverites have endured neglect, while the less dense and less transit-focused suburbs in Vancouver have been able to capture more political capital, therefore putting those projects at a higher priority.

Both the Millennium Line Evergreen Extension and the Expo Line Surrey-Langley Extension are a waste of resources, which can be better spent on where actual public transit demand resides.

The Evergreen Line was an extension of the Millennium Line in 2016, which brought the Millennium Line from Lougheed Town Centre to Lafarge Lake-Douglas in Coquitlam Town Centre. It was an 11 km long extension with six new stations.

The Evergreen Extension replaced the 97 B-Line, which saw around 10,000 riders per weekday in 2015. In 2019, the Evergreen Extension recorded only about 40,000 riders per day. In comparison, the under-construction Millennium Line Broadway Extension (Broadway Subway), which extends the Millennium Line from VCC-Clark to Arbutus Street, is expected to see 135,000 to 150,000 daily riders in 2026.

skytrain millennium line evergreen extension

Route and station map of SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Evergreen Extension. (TransLink)

Route and station map of SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Evergreen Extension (Broadway Subway.) (BC Ministry of Transportation)

translink ubc skytrain route options april 2022

TransLink’s recommended route and station locations for SkyTrain Millennium Line’s UBC Extension, April 2022. (TransLink)

Route and station map for SkyTrain Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley Extension. (Government of BC)

The Broadway Subway project obviously benefits the entire Metro Vancouver region exponentially more than the Evergreen Extension, as it will carry around four times the number of riders on its opening day. It is embarrassing to me and other Vancouverites that our governments would rather prioritize a project to gain political support in Coquitlam, Port Moody, and Port Coquitlam than build an extension that will benefit the entire region.

The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain will extend the Expo Line from King George Station to 203rd Street in Langley Centre. It is a 16 km long extension with eight stations. Unlike every other SkyTrain line or extension built in the past two decades, the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension does not replace any frequent bus route. On its opening day in 2028, the extension will see just 56,000 daily riders.

In comparison, the 19 km long Canada Line saw nearly 100,000 riders during the first year of operations. The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension generated immense political attention, with the federal government directly funding this project to Langley. The $4 billion project is partially accomplished by reallocating about $1.6 billion previously set aside for the cancelled Surrey Newton-Guildford light rail transit line — a move initiated by a 2018 change in the City of Surrey’s political leadership.

But all the senior governments did was gain political support for the ever-changing ridings in Surrey and Langley while forgetting about the ridings in Vancouver that have seen relatively minimal change in the past decade.

TransLink has been losing its grip on prioritizing SkyTrain extensions that needed to happen decades ago. If this continues, people in Vancouver who have endured overcrowded buses for the past few decades may switch to driving their personalized automobiles. The statistics have shown that we are building transit to destinations that need it decades from now. We have put Vancouver aside for too long, and that needs to stop today if we want Vancouverites to continue being leaders of building transit.

So, what now? I see two major public transit corridors in Vancouver that need to be studied for SkyTrain technology replacement now. One of these is on the combined 41st/49th Avenue corridor between UBC and Metrotown, and the other is along the Hastings Street corridor between downtown Vancouver and Simon Fraser University (SFU).

The 41st/49th Avenue corridor is the busiest bus transit corridor in Vancouver. It even exceeds the ridership along the 99 B-Line.

Such a SkyTrain line would run from UBC along 41st Avenue. After it reaches Oakridge-41st Station, it would transition along 49th Avenue until Metrotown, where it would meet the outlined Purple Alignment for the North Shore SkyTrain.

Theoretical map outlining a “Crosstown” SkyTrain line along the North Shore and within Burnaby and Vancouver, from Park Royal to UBC via the Second Narrows and Metrotown, running along Marine Drive, Willingdon Avenue, 49th Avenue, and 41st Avenue. (Nathan Jang/submitted)

north shore connects burrard inlet rapid transit skytrain

Burrard Inlet Rapid Transit concepts of two North Shore SkyTrain lines via the Second Narrows: Gold Line from Park Royal to downtown Vancouver via Hastings, and Purple Line from Park Royal to Brentwood Town Centre Station and Metrotown Station via Willingdon Avenue. (North Shore Connects)

This combined 41st/49th Avenue corridor has four major bus routes that carry millions of riders annually. The R4 41st Avenue RapidBus, which was introduced in 2020, is Metro Vancouver’s second busiest bus route, with 7.8 million annual boardings in 2022. It runs from Joyce-Collingwood Station along 41st Avenue to UBC.

The No. 49, which runs from Metrotown Station to UBC, is Metro Vancouver’s third busiest bus route, with 7.3 million annual boardings in 2022. In 2016, due to high demand, the No. 49 transitioned to using only the 60 ft articulated buses — just like the 99 B-Line and RapidBus.

The No. 25, which runs along King Edward Avenue from Brentwood Town Centre Station to UBC, is Metro Vancouver’s fifth busiest bus route, with 5.7 million annual boardings in 2022.

Combined, over 21 million people travel through this corridor annually. It is unbelievable that this corridor has not been prioritized as much as it should be.

There are also many major employment centres and points of interest along this corridor: UBC, Dunbar, Kerrisdale, Oakridge, Langara College, Punjabi Market, Sunset, Victoria Drive, Killarney, Fraserview, and Metrotown. Two new proposed RapidBus or Bus Rapid Transit routes will intersect with this line — one along Victoria Drive from Commercial Drive and the other along 49th Avenue to Metrotown from Richmond.

So many students, workers, and seniors travel along this corridor daily, and the bus routes are struggling to keep up with demand.

From personal experience, the R4 and No. 49 are overcrowded during peak hours, even with the R4’s three-minute frequencies. This corridor far outshines the Fraser Highway corridor or the 97 B-Line alignment to Coquitlam.

Another corridor that should be studied for a SkyTrain line would be along Hastings Street. It would run from downtown Vancouver along Hastings Street to SFU. This would replace the R5 Hastings Street RapidBus, the seventh busiest bus route in Metro Vancouver, carrying almost 4.4 million people in 2022.

Hastings Street has been a major street for retail and carries students to SFU, a major employment hub. North-south bus routes to Waterfront Station travel along Hastings Street in small segments. This includes the No. 16 Arbutus/29th Avenue Station and the No. 20 Downtown/Victoria local bus routes, which are respectively the sixth and eighth busiest bus routes in 2022, carrying 4.6 million and 4.2 million annual boardings. Although this corridor does not carry as many riders as the 41st/49th Avenue corridor, it should still be studied for SkyTrain technology.

TransLink and the government should be directing the majority of future transit funding into studying the corridors mentioned above. Based on proven ridership, Vancouver has been neglected by the provincial and federal governments for new SkyTrain extensions and lines, but they have eight of the 10 busiest bus routes in Metro Vancouver.

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