Daily Hive’s Kenneth Chan agrees Surrey LRT will be expensive mistake
- Reality Check
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- November 20, 2017
Opposition to Surrey’s proposed light rail transit system has grown significantly in the last year, and many new voices in the community are coming forward with their thoughts on the matter. One of these voices is a prominent editor who has lent his voice to several major transportation issues in our region, as well as to transit matters in other Canadian cities.
Last month, Daily Hive Vancouver’s Kenneth Chan expressed his agreement that Surrey’s Light Rail system will be one of Metro Vancouver’s worst transportation mistakes, suggesting that the Surrey LRT system will be under-built and inadequate for transit needs South of the Fraser.
Kenneth explains in an opinion editorial on Daily Hive that the issues that surround the proposed Surrey Light Rail system are that it will:
- Offer a low ultimate capacity that is only 27% that of the Canada Line’s
- Be much slower and less frequent than SkyTrain
- Potentially be unreliable and prone to collision
- Cost comparable to a SkyTrain extension to build but generate less ridership, and
- Have operating cost shortfalls for decades
The article concludes that the proposed LRT system was likely “never about mobility and transportation” – noting that TransLink’s studies have also suggested that there is a poor business case for LRT, and that real estate development will happen in Surrey regardless of the transit technology chosen.
A poll placed at the end of the article demonstrates that readers have made up their mind and highly agree that SkyTrain is the technology that should be used by a Surrey rapid transit project: over 91% of readers (1,737 voters) have voted in favour of SkyTrain, while only just over 6% voted for Street-level Light Rail and less than 3% are undecided.
The op-ed included this statement from our organization’s founder:
Our suggestion for a combination SkyTrain and Bus Rapid Transit system is the option that will deliver the most economic benefits and the best transit improvement outcome for citizens South of Fraser."
We are very pleased to receive Kenneth’s agreement on this matter, a notable addition to the growing list of those in Surrey and Metro Vancouver who are opposed to the Light Rail project.
As of today (November 20, 2017) over 3,400 people have signed our petition asking TransLink and Surrey to reconsider the Surrey Light Rail Transit project.
Reality Check
Reality Check is the online blog run by the founder of SkyTrain for Surrey, a BC-based community organization that has advocated for expanding the Vancouver SkyTrain system, including our successful advocacy for the under-construction Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension and the proposed SkyTrain expansion to Newton.
Media Contact: Daryl Dela Cruz – Founder, SkyTrain for Surrey ・ Phone: +1 604 329 3529, [email protected]
