BC Transit wants to hand the Fraser Valley Express three more buses next year—so long as the province provides enough funding—and buses—to go around.

The Fraser Valley Express runs between Chilliwack and Lougheed Town Centre with stops in Abbotsford and Langley. It has been a hit since its launch in 2015, but its popularity has posed recent challenges, with some buses reaching capacity at Abbotsford and leaving riders waiting for the next vehicle.

That problem was so severe that, earlier this year, BC Transit pulled money from its internal budget in order to add two more buses to the route.

Now, the transit agency and the Fraser Valley Regional District have put together a plan to further boost BC’s most-popular inter-regional bus service. They also want to create a new regional route between Agassiz and Mission. But there are several potential roadblocks that could stall the buses before they ever hit the road.

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Elisa Woo2 years ago

I take the bus regularly from High St to Burnaby on Saturdays. I need to arrive at the bus stop at least 30 minutes before the scheduled bus. By the time the bus comes,( with standing room capacity only ) there can be more than 40 people in line. Usually, there will be riders left behind; the sad part is everyone has a reason to need to be on that bus, as the next one arrives 60 minutes after. One sad young lady cried, “ I have an exam to get to.” You could say should have planned to take an earlier bus. True. If she had to wait for 2 buses, that means riders like her would stand 2 hours at a bus stop for a ride. Is that reasonable to ask anyone to do that?

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chandy d3 years ago

Public transit in the FV is so sad! I took it to and from Abbotsford for 5 years and it was massively inconvenient but the only way I could get around at the time. It sucks that there's demand for it, but with funding and bureaucracy issues we can't improve its services. Having more people take the FVX or public transit in general would relieve some of the traffic we've been seeing, especially until whenever Hwy 1 can be expanded around Abbotsford/Langley area.