‘Emergency’ fix needed for popular Fraser Valley-to-SkyTrain connector

The Fraser Valley Express’s extended route to Lougheed SkyTrain station was a hit last year. Indeed, before the ongoing transit strike ground buses to a halt, it was almost too popular, according to a new report.

While bus systems elsewhere struggled after COVID, the FVX had the opposite problem: more riders than seats to hold them. And despite hopes to add capacity, the province refused to fund more buses to carry those riders.

Now there is a plan in place to bolster BC’s most-successful post-pandemic bus line—without direct provincial government funding.

The pandemic dealt a severe blow to many transit systems both in BC, and around the world. Not only were people more hesitant to get into packed vehicles with strangers, but the rise of remote work meant many former commuters no longer had to put on pants to get to work.

That left many bus systems struggling to regain riders as the pandemic receded. But the Fraser Valley Express has more than bucked that trend.

Upon its conception nearly a decade ago, the FVX had been a standard bearer for regional transit, carrying ever-increasing numbers of people between Chilliwack and Langley’s Carvolth bus exchange. Its success led officials to eye an extension direct to Lougheed SkyTrain Station, which would significantly increase the convenience of journeys to downtown Vancouver. (Previously riders had to take another bus from Carvolth to a Surrey SkyTrain station.)

The pandemic delayed initial plans to extend the service, but last year, the FVX-to-SkyTrain route finally became a reality. And the convenience and speed was a hit with riders. Ever since, buses—especially those between Abbotsford and Lougheed Station—have been packed.

As bus systems elsewhere struggled to return to pre-pandemic ridership levels, the FVX was running between 40 and 60% above its pre-COVID numbers. Fraser Valley Regional District staff say the extension triggered a “sharp increase in ridership,” with more than 1,400 boardings each average weekday before the transit strike began this spring.

A transit system is designed—and judged on its capacity—to transport people (and reduce their need to use cars). The extension proved a success. But it also created capacity problems and forced drivers in Abbotsford and at Lougheed Station to pass up waiting passengers because buses were already packed to the gills.

A rider analysis shows that most westbound passengers boarding in the morning at Abbotsford’s Highstreet mall were forced to stand. And during afternoon peaks, there was even less room, with some passengers forced to wait an hour for the next bus.

The fix

BC Transit has been hoping to add buses to the route for several years. But since COVID, the provincial government has refused to fund any expanded transit projects.

That “has resulted in the FVX falling behind” to keep up with demand, FVRD staff wrote in a report being tabled this week. (The FVRD and BC Transit share the operating costs for the bus.)

With the ridership analysis showing that demand is often exceeding capacity at peak times, BC Transit has suggested what it and the FVRD are calling a “critical fix.”

The two parties would pool their money to cover the cost of adding two new buses to the route each weekday beginning in September. The buses would be based in Abbotsford and would run between there and Lougheed Station. (Chilliwack’s bus yard is at capacity, and FVX buses are generally not at capacity until they get to Highstreet Shopping Centre.)

The expansion is expected to cost around a half-million dollars. The FVRD would pick up about $220,000 of the cost. The rest would come from BC Transit’s “core budget.”

A BC Transit spokesperson said it will find the money from “efficiencies” within its current operating budget. With BC Transit spending around $225 million each year, the extra cost amounts to a little more than 0.1% of its annual budget. The two buses will come from the agency’s existing contingency fleet, and won’t require new purchases.

The strike

Of course, that September start date will require buses to actually begin running again. Transit workers in the valley have been on strike for more than a month now.

A mediator has not yet been appointed, with BC Labour Minister Harry Bains saying that such an intervention must be welcomed by both parties. While the employer, First Transit, says it would be open to mediation, the union representing bus drivers has not yet responded to The Current’s questions about mediation.

Meanwhile, no one at BC Transit or in the provincial government is willing to talk about what it might do to prevent future transit strikes in the first place.

Just last year, the Sea-to-Sky transit system endured a four-month strike. But while some observers and transit advocates have suggested a reconsideration of the model by which BC Transit hires private contractors to operate local bus systems, no one in government is willing to talk about the future of the system.

BC Transit refused The Current’s request for an interview with its chair, and the provincial Ministry of Transportation also refused to answer questions about what it could do to prevent a future strike. Both said they can’t discuss such aspects during an ongoing labour dispute.

BC Transit has only repeated a statement posted online, in which it both apologized to riders for the bus shutdown while at the same time declaring that it has no responsibility for, or involvement in, the labour dispute.