Surrey mayor calls for urgent transit plan to address ballooning population

The City of Surrey is urgently calling for a transit plan to address its population boom which is expected to hit one million residents within the next 20 years.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke says only 27 per cent of Surrey residents have access to frequent transit service — this compared to 90 per cent in the City of Vancouver.

“Surrey is in dire need of a transit plan, a transit plan that works for our city. We haven’t had one since 2007 and since that time, our population has grown by over 400,000 people. It certainly is time,” Locke told 1130 NewsRadio.

“Post [COVID-19] pandemic ridership in Surrey is 125 per cent — that’s over capacity. We are seeing far too many of our busses that say, ‘Sorry, bus is full.’ So where do we start? We start with TransLink, we start with the province, and say it’s time that money is spent on Surrey.”

Locke insists affordability and public transit are linked, suggesting that until there is a robust public transit system in the city, “affordability will always be an issue in Surrey.”

The mayor says the issue is complicated by the fact that city residents are young, and most newcomers to B.C. end up settling in the city.

“Cars are becoming a luxury for many, many people, and so without a good, solid public transit system, getting people to work, getting people just to their daily lives with appointments and shopping is becoming impossible, and so we must, we must, see the provincial government step up and put an action plan in place for us in Surrey,” Locked said.

Locke says that as the provincial government is creating housing targets, “it is just more essential now than ever that a transit plan for Surrey, for Surrey alone, is created and funded.”

Locke says Surrey is home to 13 of the region’s 20 most crowded bus routes.

“At any time, you can go to any of our transit areas, whether it’s in Newton or here in the city center, you will see people lined up to go on to busses,” she said.

“It’s not just getting on a bus or getting off a bus — you are lining up and waiting because you can bet your boots that the bus will be leaving without you.

“They’re at capacity all the time in Surrey. It’s a problem.”

Locke says that she wants to see shovels in the ground when it comes to the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension and the King George Bus Rapid Transit.

“We need to see that now. We just can’t be waiting anymore. And these large infrastructure projects are important, and we want to see them.”

–With files from Anthony Atanasov.