The Metro Vancouver mayors may soon foolishly acquiesce to the mayor of Surrey’s demand to build with SkyTrain instead of light rail.
Foolish, because they will remain tied to one supplier and will have to dance to the tune of Bombardier Inc., when and if new cars are ordered.
Bombardier has ills with its rail sector, with late deliveries and somewhat shoddy product, which is causing it nothing but harm to its reputation.
And how does this effect SkyTrain you say?
As Vancouver is the only customer left for the proprietary Innovia SkyTrain system, deliveries maybe spread over a long time as they will only be manufactured if Bombardier has the time to make them or Bombardier my terminate production of the Innovia vehicle altogether.
Now, wouldn’t that be a game changer.
A MetroLinx tram on the test track.
Metrolinx still waiting for first Eglinton Crosstown vehicle
Under the terms of a $392-million contract agreed to last year, Bombardier is supposed to supply Metrolinx with 76 vehicles for the Crosstown, the $5.9-billion midtown light rail line that is currently under construction and is scheduled to open by September 2021.
In late October, Bombardier invited media to its facility outside Kingston, Ont. to demonstrate progress it had made in assembling the first vehicle. The company said at the time it would be ready to ship in November.
But according to Metrolinx, the provincial transportation agency in charge of building the Crosstown, a subsequent inspection in early December determined the car wasn’t ready.
“The vehicle required some corrections and adjustments prior to being released for shipment to Toronto,” said Metrolinx acting chief communications and public affairs officer Jamie Robinson in a statement.
“Due to constraints with shipping prior to the heavy traffic holiday season, Bombardier has informed Metrolinx that the arrival of the first vehicle is now scheduled for early 2019.”
Neither Metrolinx nor Bombardier would specify what adjustments the vehicle required.
Under the terms of the contract, the deadline for delivering the first six cars is Feb. 1.
According to Robinson’s statement, there are “significant financial penalties for Bombardier” if the company fails to supply “quality vehicles” by the deadline.
Metrolinx declined to say what the penalties are or whether it believes Bombardier will supply the six vehicles on time.
In a brief email, Bombardier spokesperson Jade St-Jean said the company is “on the right track” and “confident” it will meet the Feb. 1 deadline for all six cars.
She said the first car “was ready to be shipped in December” but as a result of the Christmas holidays it will now be sent the week of Jan. 7, 2019.
Asked to explain why the holiday would affect delivery, St-Jean said the car is being sent by truck and will require a police escort, which she suggested wouldn’t be available over the Christmas period.
The delay in supplying the first Crosstown car is the latest development in the long-running saga of the expensive vehicle purchase.
In 2010, Metrolinx placed a $770-million order with Bombardier for 182 cars, with the intention of running them on several Toronto-area light rail lines.
But in 2016, Metrolinx filed a notice of intent to terminate the deal, claiming Bombardier had missed deadlines for the delivery of the first cars.
Bombardier countered in 2017 by seeking a court injunction to prevent Metrolinx from cancelling the contract. The company alleged Metrolinx had unfairly refused to take delivery of cars, and claimed the agency wanted out of the deal because several provincial light rail projects had been either delayed or cancelled and it no longer required all 182 vehicles it had ordered.
Metrolinx also inked a deal with Alstom, a French rail manufacturer, to supply the Crosstown cars should Bombardier fail to deliver.
The Metrolinx order is separate from the TTC’s purchase of new streetcars from Bombardier, which has also faced delays.
A spokesperson for the TTC said that as of Monday, the agency had 117 of the new vehicles in service, and at least four more had been approved for delivery.
When one is conned, very seldom will one admit to being conned.
Well, the good burghers of Langley are being conned by the new mayor of Surrey and by their lack of due diligence, will condemn Langley residents with congestion, gridlock, and very poor transit options. SkyTrain is not coming to Langley.
The evidence is now growing that the flip-flop from light rail to SkyTrain is all about land speculation and land development and precious little to do with providing better transit. The mayor and council of Surrey, abetted by TransLink, have bamboozled everyone!
Memo to the Langley mayors and mayors east of Langley: “SkyTrain ain’t a comin”, in fact by the time that there is talk of extending SkyTrain east to Langley, there will not be any SkyTrain available as Metro Vancouver is the the only customer in the entire world, daft enough to pursue SkyTrain planning, production of the proprietary railway will have long ceased.
Langley’s keen for SkyTrain service, but city may have to wait a while
TransLink doesn’t have the money yet for full extension of Expo line
CBC News · Posted: Dec 11, 2018
Langley’s new mayor says she’s excited about the prospect of SkyTrain service in her city — but there’s no clear timeline on when that might happen or how much it will cost.
Langley City Mayor Val van den Broek described the prospect of rapid transit as “quite amazing” for her community in an interview with CBC’s On The Coast.
“It’ll provide new access and connections to Metro Vancouver for us,” she said. “It’ll grow our business community as well.”
She said she’s not bothered by the news that the SkyTrain extension may not come as quickly as some had hoped.
Not enough money to reach Langley
On Monday, TransLink spokesperson Jill Drews said the exact timeline and cost for bringing SkyTrain to Langley aren’t known yet.
To date, the transit authority has only secured $1.65 billion to fund the extension of the Expo Line from Surrey along the Fraser Highway. That’s not enough to get all the way to Langley, and new funding from the provincial and federal governments will likely be necessary.
“What we’re going to do is take everything we know, do some further study, look at where we can build to, how long can we build with $1.6 billion and then tackle a second phase in the future,” Drews said.
Previous estimates have suggested the first stage of construction could extend the line as far as Surrey’s Fleetwood neighbourhood, but solid plans will depend on what comes out of a business case study, which is expected to take 13-15 months.
Right now, the next step is for the TransLink mayors’ council to vote Thursday on a proposal for that study.
If construction goes ahead, the first stage of the extension could be completed by 2025. That’s a bit longer than what Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum predicted in October, when he told CBC News the new line would be built within two to three years.
The mayor has said he’ll find ways to cut costs and speed up construction to deliver on the timeline he promised.
Congratulations on your recent return to the mayor’s office in my favorite city, Surrey BC. I read where you are wasting no time to capitalize on the mandate granted you (by the 41 percent of the 33 percent of eligible voters that voted you in) to throw out 10 years of transit planning by former and current officials throughout the region. You have successfully trashed their plan for a 10 km surface light rail serving your Gildford and Newton Town Centers in favour of a 4 km Expo line extension to – Fleetwood?
I know you said during the election that you could build Skytrain all the way to Langley City Centre down the Fraser HIghway for the same money as the light rail plan, but sadly Translink and the Mayor’s Council dont agree. They say that since Skytrain costs twice as much per km as surface light rail, the 1.65 billion already allocated will only get you through Green Timbers Park (not a lot of riders there!) to Fleetwood (I bet the owners of the Fleetwood Park strip mall are overjoyed!).
Premier Horgan and PM Trudeau have already said they are still happy to fund the original plan but will not give you one dime extra for the switch to SKytrain. Worse still, the Mayors Council just voted to make you pay back the 56 million already spent on the light rail proposal, which ironically is about the same cost as the Grandview Heights Community Centre and Library, project you scrapped for lack of funds. Wow. That’s what i call a pretty bad day for sure.
But fear not, I can help. What if I told you that there is a way to serve Scot Road, West Surrey, North Delta, Newton Town Center, Cloverdale and Langley City Centre by rail for way less than the cost of the 4 km “FLeetwood Skytrain Express” (as some wags are calling it).
Wait, it gets better! What if I told you that you could also be a hero to the folks in Abbotsford and Chilliwack by extending the line all the way out to serve them too, still for the same money!
Wait! It gets better still! After all that there would still be enough to put a tram line down King George Highway to Newton Town Centre andover to Guildford so you won’t have to pay back that 65 million!
Interested? Here’s how.
For 75 years BC Electric served the locations listed above along a track that is still in use. It’s the old BC Electric Interurban Line. It turns out that the line was never sold, only leased, to CP rail. The conditions of the lease call for the return of the line to the Province if ever passenger rail service were to restart.
Better still, the lease also stipulates that if the frequency of rail service is such that the rail must be double tracked, CP must pay the costs! What can be better than a free double track ROW?
What about vehicles? Well you could run catenary lines on the route for an electric train, but they cost a ton.
Fortunately there is a simpler and far cheaper solution. Alstom Corporation , a global transit company that now supplies transit vehicles to Ottawa and Toronto, just launched a hydrogen powered transit vehicle that can be had for less than the cost of a handful of skytrain cars. And here is maybe the best part. Hydrogen fuel is manufactured right at the BC Hydro facility in Surrey . So the project supports the growth of local green jobs for Surrey too!
The concerns you have voiced about LRT vehicles getting slowed down in traffic and adding to congestion (which are misplaced I would argue, but admittedly strongly felt by some) go away with this plan since the track is in its own ROW for the whole distance with very few at grade crossings. And at grade crossings can be controlled by crossing gates (as is done for hundreds of commuter rail and tram/train systems in North America) or by simply slowing down the train to obey signals as they do in Portland OR. for the MAX Line tram/train.
More good news. This plan has already been studied. The engineering and business case was developed not too long ago in the “Proposal for Rail for the Valley” by Leewood Projects of Surrey UK (yet another Surrey tie in!). They estimated that it would cost around .6 billion for track, vehicles, stations and catenary for a commuter rail tram/train system of over 90 km! A tiny fraction of the cost per km of SKytrain and a 100 year transportation solution for the entire South of Fraser urban region.
That study was conducted in 2010 so it will cost more now. But the study assumed catenary infrastructure not needed if you use hydrogen power and track reconstruction which may not be a cost borne by you (as mentioned above) so who knows, costs could be less.
Worst case, let’s say the cost is a cool billion. You still have $600 million left to play with. And if you want to get the other mayors off your back you could strip the bells and whistles out of the light rail proposal you hate (but the Board of Trade desperately wants) and do a Portland Oregon style tram to Guildford and Newton for less than 60 million per km.
Or maybe you can mollify the other mayors, the board of trade, and your local environmentalists with a hydrogen powered bus rapid transit to Newton and Guildford for even less.
In short, you have many ways to make Surrey the centre of a thriving metropolitan “South of Fraser Kingdom” rather than the dead end of the Vancouver Skytrain line (and get yourself out of what looks like a tight spot politically). Now that you have successfully blown up the whole regional transit plan I am sure you can see the benefits of grabbing this fantastic life preserver, and give Surrey and the whole South of Fraser region the futuristic transit it deserves.
Your humble servant and Surrey booster
Professor Patrick M. Condon.
The mayors council has now voted to proceed with SkyTrain.
“What fools we mortals be”, quoting the great bard.
What the Mayor’s Council on transit did vote for is a mediocre SkyTrain extension, that really goes nowhere , demanded by the ravings the aged mayor of Surrey.
What has happened is that SkyTrain may be operating as far as Fleetwood by 2026 or 2027, but as the population skyrockets in the Fraser Valley, gridlock, endemic congestion and auto deaths will increase dramatically.
By the time the equally foolish Broadway subway is finished, transit in Metro Vancouver will be pushed past the point of no return of useful transit planning and expansion. There will be no financial ability to continue with rapid transit construction and the region will never be able to provide the transit to meet the ever growing demand.
Metro Vancouver is doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for different results, which also is the definition of madness.
The grossly ill informed Metro Vancouver mayors have now set the stage for a truly massive transit and transportation fiasco and they have but none themselves to blame.
Mayors’ Council votes in favour of SkyTrain extension in Surrey
Local mayors have approved planning work for a SkyTrain Surrey extension
But if you live in Langley you might be out of luck, the extension will only go as far as Fleetwood or Clayton Heights
Other mayors also pushed successfully for Surrey to pay compensation for sunk costs associated the cancellation of LRT
NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – TransLink’s Mayors’ Council has voted to proceed with the planning and development for the SkyTrain extension in Surrey along the Fraser Highway.
Politicians met at TransLink’s headquarters in New Westminster on Thursday to discuss the project.
TransLink has said that the $1.6-billion originally budgeted for Light Rail Train (LRT) may not be enough to cover the SkyTrain expansion.
So while Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum on a line running from his community to Langley, the line, if eventually completed, would only go as far as Fleetwood or Clayton Heights.
“It can definitely develop a SkyTrain project among the Fraser Highway but it does not look likely that that funding will be enough to get you all the way to Langley,” council chair and New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote said.
Other mayors also pushed successfully for Surrey to pay compensation for sunk costs associated with the cancellation of LRT.
No dollar figure was set for that, but Macallan hinted it could involve Surrey giving TransLink land for the new line.
“Want to make clear that the work we’re going to be doing over the next year is really examining all the options we have to move this line as far as possible and being able to have the greatest benefit for public transit,” Cote added. “But I think, for us, we do want to put out the reservation thought that we don’t believe the funding at this point is going to get us all the way to the City of Langley.”
This amendment has passed unanimously, includes requirement that Surrey pay compensation. Full vote coming soon/ pic.twitter.com/f0f1dtsRdV
Mayors’ Council voted to suspend the Surrey-Newton-Guildford LRT project, including all spending back in November.
TransLink has already spent $50 million on planning for light rail, and the city has spent $20 million in pre-construction work.
‘Quite disappointing’
Meanwhile, Colleen Clark, executive director of the Greater Langley Chamber added they are holding out hope that the federal and provincial governments will reconsider boosting their share of funding so the expansion can be extended to Langley.
“And now that it’s going to not be happening in this next phase, is quite disappointing,” she said. “Surrey and Langley are the largest growing communities in the Lower Mainland, the fastest growing communities population-wise, and we really need to try to get as much transit out here as we possibly can.”
She said Thursday’s decision doesn’t just hurt local business leaders, who’ve spent several years lobbying for transit services to be extended, but people who already have difficulty getting around.
“If somebody gives you tickets to a Canucks game, basically from here, you have to drive either all the way into Surrey and park and go down SkyTrain or you have to drive all the way in,” Clark added. “It would be great to have somewhere to park in Langley to jump on the SkyTrain and get that car off the road, so people can’t get where they need to go without a car.”
A SkyTrain leaves Surrey Central SkyTrain station. Francis Georgian / PNG
TransLink says SkyTrain to Langley could cost $2.6 billion. Surrey’s mayor believes it is possible for the $1.65-billion allocated for the cancelled Newton-Guildford LRT.
VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan says there’s no additional provincial money available for Surrey if it needs more to pay for Mayor Doug McCallum’s election promise to switch to SkyTrain.
Horgan said he’s spoken with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and both governments will only fund the amount they’d previously agreed to — roughly 40 per cent each — for Phase 2 two of Metro Vancouver’s transit expansion plan.
Originally, that plan included a $1.65-billion Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail transit project. But the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation voted to suspend LRT in November after McCallum won the Surrey mayoralty on a promise to switch to a SkyTrain line from Surrey to Langley, which TransLink estimates could cost more than $2.6 billion.
“The two orders of government, federal and provincial, are doing what they can to provide more money to get this going,” Horgan told Postmedia News on Wednesday.
“If Mr. McCallum wants to raise taxes in Surrey to fill the gap he’s welcome to. I don’t think the people of Surrey will embrace that. But that’s the only way there’s going to be more money, it’s going to come out of his pocket not out of the federal or provincial pie.”
The region’s mayors will vote Thursday on whether to start planning for SkyTrain on a timetable of operation by 2025.
How to fund the apparent billion-dollar gap between LRT and SkyTrain remains a point of contention.
McCallum has said he thinks the entire Surrey to Langley SkyTrain line can be built for much less than TransLink estimates.
Mayors said in November that any SkyTrain proposal should only draw on the $1.65 billion set aside for Phase 2 — though that won’t be enough to build the full 16-kilometre line to the centre of Langley.
Phase 3 of the mayors’ plan also has another $1.9 billion allocated for rapid transit South of the Fraser, but that part of the plan has not yet been funded, and what kind of rapid transit it will be used for — SkyTrain, light rail or rapid bus — has not yet been determined. The Mayors’ Council will vote tomorrow on whether to direct TransLink staff to go ahead with a refresh of that rapid transit plan.
TransLink plans to prepare a business case for Surrey SkyTrain within the next year. To date, it has not asked the provincial or federal governments for any additional funding.
Horgan said it’s “just not on” if McCallum expects to turn to the B.C. government to cover his election promise of SkyTrain.
“If they want to do SkyTrain I’m good with that but it won’t go as far, it’s a simple as that,” said Horgan. “You won’t get as many kilometres done with the money on the table.”
Horgan also took a pre-emptive shot at McCallum in case he wants to try to shift blame to the provincial government.
“It will not be acceptable to me if he turns around and says this is all the province’s fault, because we had a plan fully funded ready to go supported by the pervious council and the one before that,” said Horgan.
The premier also warned of “consequences” in the form of delays as well, but said he will leave it up to local mayors to advise him on their plans.
“I’m happy to take guidance from Mayor McCallum and his council, but they have to understand they can’t just come rolling into Dodge and say I want another billion or I’m going to hold my breath,” said Horgan. “That’s not going to help anybody.”
McCallum did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond reiterated Wednesday that the available budget in his mind for SkyTrain would be the $1.6 billion previously approved for Phase 2.
“We will take the line as far as we can take it with the $1.65 billion available now,” he said.
Contrary to the constant spin that the grade separated SkyTrain is not bothered with weather or such problems, today’s rain caused several stations to close.
Despite all the recent hype and hoopla, SkyTrain operation is affected by circumstances beyond its control.
For all the extra costs associated with SkyTrain, service does cease when problems happen.
METRO VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Flooding forced TransLink to put the brakes on service between a number of stations Tuesday afternoon due to heavy rain across the region.
Commuters experienced heavy delays after service between Columbia and Scott Road Stations, as well as Columbia and Sapperton, was forced to shut down.
Service has since resumed, but delays are still expected as crowds disperse.
Here’s what it looked like in the Columbia Tunnel an hour ago. Crews are on scene pumping water out of the tunnel and it has subsided substantially. Stay tuned for further updates. ^at pic.twitter.com/rVQ8Pfqr8D
“We’ve got staff on scene, we’ve got them with pumps, and we’re also sourcing a pumper truck to get in there and get that water down, hopefully, get service running as soon as possible,” said Chris Bryan with TransLink.
He said the situation was highly unusual.
MAJOR transit delays btw if you’re trying to get anywhere by skytrain – Columbia station is completely out of commission. There are bus bridges but it’s pretty wild wild west. @NEWS1130@TransLinkpic.twitter.com/aqLrNCim2a
Bus bridges were in effect, but commuters still experienced long waits.
“We have a lot of buses that are serving these stations,” he added. “But buses can’t replace that same kind of capacity so there’s going to be significant delays likely until this clears up.”
True to form, TransLink and the mainstream media haven’t a clue about SkyTrain or SkyTrain vehicles.
A news story on CKNW radio as well as other media sources claimed erroneously that the MK.3 rail cars are articulated.
The new MK. 3 cars are not articulated, they are gangwayed, allowing communication throughout the four car train set.
Definition:
Articulated cars are rail vehicles which consist of a number of cars which are semi-permanently attached to each other and share common Jacobs bogies or axles and/or have car elements without axles suspended by the neighbouring car elements. They are much longer than single passenger cars. Because of the difficulty and cost of separating each car from the next, they are operated as a single unit, often called a trainset.
Also, I doubt the new trains can increase capacity by 14% because the Expo Line is very near its maximum legal capacity of 15,000 pphpd; except if TransLink has been telling porkies about current capacity (inflating ridership numbers) then maybe a 14% increase in capacity can be obtained.
TransLink really hasn’t a clue what it is talking about, which in turn one should ask; “can we trust TransLink with planning the Broadway subway and rail transit in Surrey?”
UPDATE
After a flurry of email’s last night, including a lesson on articulated rail cars, CKNW removed the offending story and hats off to them for doing so.
The real story is, articulated rail cars are a transit 101 subject and TransLink failed badly.
First new MK III SkyTrain hits the track, but others running months late
Commuters riding the Expo or Millennium Line this week may catch a glimpse of the first of 56 new Mark III SkyTrain cars destined for Metro Vancouver, but they won’t be able to board just yet.
The new, longer, four-car train is running during non-peak hours as a part of Phase 2 of its testing.
It includes more room for standing passengers, wheelchairs and bikes, and is fully articulated — meaning passengers can walk the train from one end to the other.
The trains will be stopping at stations along the lines, but passengers won’t be allowed onboard — the doorways will be taped off, and transit workers will ride the trains to ensure they remain empty.
A second, new Mark III train arrived in Burnaby last month where it is undergoing Phase 1 of its testing, which involves running 80 kilometres on tracks during non-service hours.
Train two pictured on a track in Burnaby.
TransLink
TransLink says 24 more SkyTrain cars are due early next year — but officials admit they’re running behind.
At Thursday’s TransLink Board meeting, BC Rapid Transit Corporation (BCRTC) interim president and general manager said the cars are running two to three months behind schedule.
“That’s a Bombardier issue, and we’ve been working with them on that. In fact, we’re hopeful that by the time we come to train 14, we’re going to have that reduced quite a bit,” he said.
“They put a lot of quality assurance in place to make sure there’s not going to be delays along this testing and commissioning.”
Part of Bombardier’s plan to cut down on delays is 5,000 kilometres of testing on a track in Kingston, Ont., so that there are fewer surprises when the trains arrive in B.C.
Another 28 SkyTrain cars are slated for delivery by the end of next year.
Train one arrives in Burnaby on a flatbed truck.
TransLink
BCRTC said the new trains will be inserted into regular service once they’ve completed a final, third phase of testing, which involves carrying passengers and testing for faults.
It says once four of the new trains are in full service, TransLink will begin adjusting scheduling, with new schedules rolled out in April, September and December.
When all the trains are on track by the end of next year, BCRTC says it will result in a 14 per cent increase in capacity.
The new cars cost $298 million and are part of Phase 1 of TransLink’s 10-year vision on transit and transportation. Phase 1 also included $88 million for 24 new Canada Line cars due by 2020.
Phase 2 will include another 108 new SkyTrain cars and an additional 95 cars to replace aging parts of the fleet.
The next Mayor’s Council on Transit meeting is on December 13 and a very important meeting indeed.
At this meeting the Mayor’s Council on Transit will decide on the fate of Surrey’s LRT project.
The SkyTrain Lobby is worried (the number of spam emails has increased tremendously) that common sense may reign and the decision to build with LRT will stand.
Here are thirteen questions the regional mayors should answer before any decision is made.
The Expo and Millennium Lines are a proprietary railway, which technical patents are owned by Bombardier Inc. and the engineering patents owned by SNC Lavalin. Are not employees of Bombardier Inc and SNC Lavalin in conflict of interest being involved in regional planning, especially rapid transit planning?
The Expo and Millennium lines is an unconventional, proprietary railway now called Innovia ART. As only seven (7) of these proprietary railways have been built in almost 40 years. Why is Vancouver the only city in the world that continues to build with SkyTrain?
Vancouver is the now the only city in the world planning for the proprietary Innova ART system (SkyTrain). How secure is TransLink getting replacement parts and new vehicles for the aging transit system, which no other company builds?
Surrey’s new mayor and council have rejected a $1.65 fully funded LRT system, in favour of an unfunded $2.95 billion SkyTrain line to Langley. Where is the additional $1.3 billion in funding coming from?
Both the IBI and ART studies done for the Toronto Transit Commission in the early 1980’s found that ICTS SkyTrain (an earlier name for Vancouver’s SkyTrain) that the proprietary metro cost up to ten times more to install for about the same capacity than LRT. Why then does Translink’s costs for LRT much higher than other city’s costs for LRT?
Innovia ART (SkyTrain) capacity is limited to 15,000 pphpd as per Transport Canada’s Operating Certificate, until an extensive and expensive rehab of the Expo and Millennium lines takes place. This is said to cost around $3 billion and must be done before any increase in capacity can be achieved. Has TransLink planned for this $3 billion rehab and if so, how will be the funding be sourced?
TransLink now claims that the Surrey LRT is not being planned as a “fully dedicated system”. What is and isn’t a “fully dedicated LRT system?
TransLink’s planners seem to think that grade separation equals greater capacity, yet it is well known that simple at-grade light rail can handle traffic flows up to and over 20,000 pphpd. The Expo and Millennium Lines currently have a maximum capacity of only 15,000 pphpd and the Canada line with platforms have half the length of the Expo & Millennium Lines, effectively gives the Canada line slightly more than half the capacity of the ART Innovia lines. Has TransLink deliberately reduce the capacity of LRT in order to not cause embarrassing comparisons with the SkyTrain light-metro lines?
Much is said about the speed of SkyTrain, but this is because SkyTrain has many fewer stations than LRT. Though SkyTrain may offer a higher commercial speed, because the much greater distances transit customers must travel to reach a SkyTrain stations, means door to door travel times tend to favour light rail. Why does TransLink persist using this unprofessional statement with their transit planning?
In North America, the industry standard for building a subway, is a transit line with traffic flows that surpass 15,000 pphpd, yet traffic flows on Broadway, in the peak hour, are less than 4,000 pphpd. Why is TransLink even considering a subway under Broadway, when traffic flows are so weak?
In 2015, TransLink fired their two top planners, Tamin Raad and Brian Mills, rumored because of their opposition to the Broadway subway. Who ordered the firings and why were the planners fired?
The city of Ottawa sent a delegation to Vancouver to inspect SkyTrain as there was pressure by the federal government for Ottawa to build with SkyTrain. The delegation found that SkyTrain was not only much more expensive to build than light rail, SkyTrain cost more to operate and maintain, had less capacity and lacked the operational flexibility than LRT. Ottawa’s new LRT system is now nearing completion. Has the findings of the Ottawa delegation ever been conveyed to Metro mayor’s and councils or the Mayors Council on Transit?
In 1993, a report from the GVRD’s Costs of Transporting People in the BC Lower Mainland, found that the subsidy in 1991, for just the Expo Line from Waterfront Stn. to New Westminster was $157.6 million or put another way, the subsidy for SkyTrain was more than the diesel and electric buses combined! What is the current annual subsidy for the entire SkyTrain light metro system?
Thirteen questions and now waiting for thirteen straight answers.
I am not holding my breathe.
Who is in charge of the clattering SkyTrain?
The axles creak and the couplings strain,
and the pace is hot and the points are near,
and costs hath deadened the Metro Vancouver’s ear,
and the signals flash through the night in vain,
for TransLink is in charge of the clattering train.
Charlie Smith of the Georgia Straight gets it, but that is no surprise, Charlie Smith and the Georgia Straight has always been the newspaper of note when it comes to SkyTrain?
Why, you say? Because he asks real questions.
By building SkyTrain, the new mayor of Surrey wants a funnel to take commuters out of Surrey, west and this can be accomplished with the few and extremely expensive stations (great to cut ribbon in front of), any thought that SkyTrain will improve local transit will be nothing more than dust in the wind.
The same holds true for the proposed SkyTrain subway under Broadway.
Building SkyTrain, like the Canada Line in Richmond, will do nothing to mitigate congestion, or for that matter, improve local transit. It will give Surrey Councillors, MLA’s and MP’s a chance to cut ribbons at election time.
It seems the big issue was speed of the transit system and SkyTrain apparent faster speeds come at a price, fewer stations.
But again, fearmongering and deception rules in Surrey as door to door commute times would be about the same for light rail and SkyTrain, with local trips, using light rail, being faster than SkyTrain, simply because light rail has more convenient and user friendly stations.
Memo to Surrey politicians: Future generations of transit customers and taxpayers will condemn your building with SkyTrain, but for now, building a monument to arrogance and stupidity, may get you elected and/or reelected for a few election cycles, before the the ill winds of reality strike.
How many SkyTrain stations will Surrey get in return for cancelling light rail? Not many at all
Surrey residents are eager to have a SkyTrain extension, judging by the October 20 election result.
The winning party, the Safe Surrey Coalition, pledged to dump a fully funded light rail line connecting Guildford and Newton to Surrey Centre.
Instead, the party’s mayoral candidate, Doug McCallum, promised use this money to develop SkyTrain along the Fraser Highway to Langley.
But do Surrey residents realize that this will mean far fewer rapid-transit stations?
There were 11 planned stops along the $1.65-billion Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail line. Four were on 104th Avenue at 152nd Street, 148th Street, 144th Street, and 140th Street.
Seven more were planned along the King George Highway between 72nd Avenue and Surrey Central Station.
The next phase was going to be light rail from King George Station to Langley. The Hatch report, which was done for TransLink, noted that this $1.64-billion light-rail line would include nine stations.
That would have given Surrey 17 additional stations, not counting King George and Surrey Central, which already serve SkyTrain passengers.
The nine along Fraser Highway would be at King George, 140th Street, 152nd Street, 160th Street, 166th Street, 68th Avenue, 64th Avenue, 192nd Street, and Langley Exchange.
TransLink has estimated that it will cost $2.9 billion to develop SkyTrain from King George Station to Langley. That’s about $175 million per kilometre.
If only $1.65 billion is spent—the current funding envelope for the suspended Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail—the SkyTrain line would only extend about nine kilometres down the Fraser Highway.
That wouldn’t even make it to 68th Avenue, which is 12.4 kilometres down the Fraser Highway.
That means, at most, there will likely two or three SkyTrain stations in addition to King George Station if the TransLink Mayors’ Council agrees to reallocate the funding from light rail to SkyTrain. That’s because SkyTrain stations tend to be placed at greater distances from one another, in comparison to stations on light-rail routes.
Of course, this estimate of two or three new SkyTrain stations is predicated on TransLink’s financial estimate being correct—something that McCallum has disagreed with.
So there you have it: nine new rapid-transit stops with LRT from Guildford to Newton via Surrey Centre (in addition to LRT stations at King George and Surrey Centre). And possibly only two or three new rapid transit stops with the same amount of funding going to SkyTrain down the Fraser Highway.
It raises serious questions whether a truncated SkyTrain line that stops before 88th Avenue would attract anywhere near as many riders as an 11-station LRT line that brings hordes of passengers to Surrey Centre.
The TransLink Mayors’ Council hasn’t made any decision to approve SkyTrain in Surrey rather than light rail.
The mayors have merely suspended the light rail line after more than $50 million was spent, pending further study.
Rob Shaw
Jennifer Saltman 
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