Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts calls for street-level rapid transit in her city
Light rail proponents say it's less expensive than SkyTrain
They are cheering Surrey mayor Dianne Watts for her call for street-level rapid transit in her city
Apr 13, 2011 19:24:20 PM News1130
SURREY (NEWS1130) – Surrey's plan for street-level rapid transit is welcome news to people who want to bring back street cars to the Fraser Valley. Mayor Dianne Watts says they're envisioning light rail down the Fraser Highway to Langley and from City Centre in Whalley to South Surrey.
Malcolm Johnston with Rail for the Valley says it ought to link up with the old Interurban Line they want resurrected.
"Compare 140 kilometres of SkyTrain at $125 million a kilometre versus ours at $7 million a kilometre, and that's the big difference with light rail, it's much cheaper. You can penetrate into less densely populated areas affordably to collect the ridership."
Johnston says a lot more companies build streetcars and light rail trains than SkyTrain cars, which are Bombardier's specialty.
