King George Boulevard BRT could pave the way for SkyTrain extension: councillor

King George Boulevard BRT could pave the way for future SkyTrain extension: Surrey councillor

Conceptual artistic depiction of 203 Street Station on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain. (Government of BC)

On Monday evening, with no debate and barely any discussion, Surrey City Council unanimously approved City of Surrey staff’s recommendation to endorse TransLink’s proposed King George Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line.

The recommendation by City staff is to specifically ask the public transit authority to implement King George Boulevard BRT as Metro Vancouver’s very first BRT project under TransLink’s 10-year priorities between 2025 and 2035.

This is for a BRT route that not only replaces the existing R1 RapidBus (former 96 B-Line), but it would see a considerable route extension running between Surrey City Centre and South Surrey via King George Boulevard and a short segment of 152 Street. Currently, the R1 RapidBus runs between Gilmore Town Centre and Newton bus exchange along 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard, with two connections to SkyTrain at Surrey Central Station and King George Station.

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According to City staff, the King George Boulevard BRT is suitable to be TransLink’s first BRT project for implementation, as it is the only corridor out of nine proposed BRT routes across the region where the public transit authority can coordinate with just one municipal jurisdiction.

The existing R1 RapidBus has proven demand given its strong ridership, and Surrey as a whole recently reached and exceeded its pre-pandemic 2019 public transit ridership volumes by 20%.

October 2023 map showing the King George Boulevard BRT route between Surrey City Centre and South Surrey/White Rock. (City of Surrey)

Moreover, in order to meet TransLink’s BRT standard of providing fully physically separated bus-only lanes, City staff are proposing to blow off the dust of some of the plans of the cancelled Surrey Newton-Guildford LRT project. The previous design and planning work for the street-level LRT could be adopted for BRT’s centre median bus lanes and stations, also known as a busway. This would be similar to the former 98 B-Line’s busway down the middle of the No. 3 Road before construction began on the Canada Line. However, bus-only lanes south of Highway 10 (the southern half of the BRT route) are deemed by City staff to be more challenging to achieve.

“It meets the short-term goals while still setting us up for the long term. If we’re successful in receiving this BRT line, we’ll start meeting some of the City’s goals immediately… We won’t have to wait decades for it, it’ll be within years. That’s important because mass transit will allow development along King George Boulevard while taking cars off the highway,” said city councillor Harry Bains during the public meeting.

“The other additional long-term benefit is by doing this BRT, we do a lot of the road work that is necessary for SkyTrain, if and when we receive it,” he continued.

Historically in Metro Vancouver, the arterial express bus service known as the B-Line has served as the precursor to SkyTrain. Both the B-Line and RapidBus serve to help build up demand on a corridor for a more superior rail-based rapid transit service over the longer term.

This includes the original longer segment of the 99 B-Line reaching Lougheed Town Centre catalyzing the original Millennium Line project, the 98 B-Line catalyzing the Canada Line, the 97 B-Line catalyzing the Millennium Line’s Evergreen Extension, and the existing truncated 99 B-Line reaching Commercial-Broadway Station catalyzing the current construction project of the Millennium Line’s Broadway Extension to Arbutus and the future Millennium Line extension to the University of British Columbia.

Prior to the municipal government’s 2018 decision to cancel LRT and refocus the region’s resources on extending the Expo Line along Fraser Highway, there were plans by TransLink to launch a B-Line (now RapidBus) service along Fraser Highway between Surrey Central Station and Langley Centre. The 16-km-long, eight-station SkyTrain extension along Fraser Highway between King George Station and Langley Centre will begin construction in 2024 for an opening in 2028.

In 2019, in lieu of the street-level LRT, TransLink estimated a southward SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line along King George Boulevard from the vicinity of King George Station to 72 Avenue in Newton — paired with a short BRT route along 104 Avenue between Surrey Central Station and Guildford Town Centre — would cost between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion. With the recent inflationary trend, this figure is likely now substantially higher.

“I think this is great for the City of Surrey,” said Mayor Brenda Locke, commenting on the potential BRT on King George Boulevard.

“There’s no doubt about it that Surrey is under-served tremendously by TransLink and the province when it comes to transportation infrastructure. It is critical that we move people, and this is an important part of that.”

TransLink’s 2022 statistics indicate the R1 RapidBus saw 4.13 million annual boardings in 2022, with averages of 12,300 on weekdays, 10,100 on Saturdays, and 8,500 on weekends/holidays. It was the ninth busiest bus route out of TransLink’s regional network of over 200 bus routes, and the fourth busiest RapidBus/B-Line route.

So far, the municipal governments of Burnaby, Delta, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, and Surrey have expressed clear formal public support for the BRT proposals that serve their jurisdiction. Only one jurisdiction, Richmond, has rejected both RapidBus and BRT.

In late October 2023, the Mayors’ Council and TransLink will finalize the list of the first projects under the 10-year priorities for public transit expansion and improvements between 2025 and 2035. Municipal governments are being asked to demonstrate their level of support ahead of the decision.

This is the full list of TransLink’s proposed 11 new RapidBus routes under the 10-year priorities:

New RapidBus routes in the first five years:
1. Langley to Haney Place via 200th Street
2. Downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale via Lions Gate Bridge
3. Marine Drive Station to 22nd Street Station via Marine Drive/Marine Way
4. R1 King George Boulevard route extension from Newton to White Rock
5. Richmond Centre to Metrotown via Knight Street Bridge, Victoria Drive, and 49th Avenue
New RapidBus routes for the second five years:
1. Downtown Vancouver to Ambleside via Lions Gate Bridge
2. Carvolth exchange to Scott Road Station via 96 Avenue
3. Commercial Drive/Victoria Drive
4. Langley to White Rock via 24th Avenue
5. New Westminster Station to Brentwood Town Centre Station via Canada Way
6. Newton to Guildford via 152nd Street

This is the full list of TransLink’s proposed nine BRT routes under the 10-year priorities:

RapidBus to BRT upgrade: R3 Lougheed Highway (Coquitlam Central Station to Haney Place in Maple Ridge)
RapidBus to BRT upgrade: R5 Hastings Street (Burrard Station to SFU Burnaby)
RapidBus to BRT upgrade: R6 Scott Road (Scott Road Station to Newton exchange). R6 will be launched in early 2024 before its potential eventual upgrade to BRT.
New BRT: Surrey to White Rock via King George Boulevard
New BRT: Langley to Haney Place in Maple Ridge via 200th Street, Golden Ears Bridge, and Lougheed Highway
New BRT: Marine Drive Station to 22nd Street Station via Marine Drive/Marine Way
New BRT: Richmond Centre to Metrotown via Knight Street Bridge, Victoria Drive, and 49th Avenue
New BRT: Downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale via Lions Gate Bridge
New BRT: Metrotown to Park Royal via Ironworkers Memorial Bridge

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