New exchanges will funnel Langley bus riders to SkyTrain stations

Some bus routes will be reconfigured to accommodate the new Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. But there are no plans for a direct bus connection for riders travelling from Abbotsford, Chilliwack and other Fraser Valley communities.

Once operational, the new 203 Street in Langley City is expected to be the busiest on the new extension, executive director of the project Jennifer McLean told both the Langley City and township councils recently. The 152 Street station in Surrey and the 196 Street station in the township are also expected to be particularly busy.

Both Langley stations will include transit exchanges where commuters can make connections to local buses.

The transit exchange at Willowbrook Mall station at 196 Street and Fraser Highway will offer connections to the township and Cloverdale.

McLean confirmed TransLink would reconfigure local bus routes. But there aren’t immediate plans to rethink connections between Langley and its Fraser Valley neighbours to the east.

Transit in Langley is operated by Translink while buses in the Fraser Valley are overseen by BC Transit. And there are relatively few links between the two systems. Those looking to take a bus from Abbotsford or Chilliwack to a SkyTrain station will still end up in Burnaby: BC Transit told The Current there are currently no plans to change the route of the Fraser Valley Express bus, which currently terminates at Lougheed Station.

A 2010 government review of the Fraser Valley’s transit system proposed a direct connection from Abbotsford to Langley City, FVRD communications manager Samantha Piper told the Current.

But what an express route may look like will require the FVRD and TransLink working together, Piper said.

Piper said there are existing non-express bus connections between Abbotsford and Aldergrove (BC Transit) and between Aldergrove and Langley City (TransLink). But getting between Langley and Abbotsford on a bus takes a long time. Currently, a trip from central Abbotsford to Langley City can take a rider roughly an hour and 10 minutes.

The Langley stations

In addition to a transit exchange, the 196 Street Station at Willowbrook Mall will also include a pick-up and drop-off area, a bike parking parkade, and charging stations for electric buses.

The 203 Street Station in Langley City, McLean said, will serve as “the catalyst for a major revitalization of the area underscored by the city’s OCP.”

Plans for the area surrounding the stations will focus on transit-oriented development to maximize residential and commercial land to promote transit. As an example, McLean pointed to Vancouver’s Marine Drive Station, which integrates transit with commercial and residential buildings. Most of the land around the Langley City station has already been purchased by developers, the Langley Advance Times reported last year. 

The stations will also include multi-pathways for people to walk, bike, and/or use their mobility device to and from the SkyTrain stations along Fraser Highway.

“The multi-use pathways will actually be the township’s first two-way cycle tracks, McLean said.”

Construction

Work to make way for the new extension is well underway. But before major construction begins crews will need to relocate transmission lines where they cross the alignment at the CP Rail crossing, as well as BC Hydro lines along the route.

A formal provincial or federal environmental assessment is not required for the extension because its route runs along an existing transportation corridor, McLean explained during her presentation.

But the province is still conducting an Environmental Screening Review. The review is expected to solicit feedback from Indigenous groups, municipalities, and the public. The study will consider noise and vibration, fisheries and aquatics, vegetation and wildlife, and air quality and GHGs. (The review document will be made available online in the coming months, the province told the Current.)

The contract for construction of the guideway will be announced later this year, while contracts for station and trackwork will be shortlisted in the coming months, according to McLean.

Asked if it would have been more appropriate to phase in the SkyTrain extension, McLean said it would have eventually taken longer and cost more.

“It was ultimately two years of savings and $500 million of savings,” McLean responded.

Township Mayor Eric Woodward said some people have raised concerns about whether unexpected costs that could arise from constructing the SkyTrain line on unstable soil on farmland could jeopardize construction of stations east of 184th Street.

But McLean said there has been no discussion of that and there are contingencies in place.