King George BRT provides an opportunity to make SkyTrain more affordable
- Media Release
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- For immediate release — January 14, 2026
While Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will make travel on King George Boulevard faster and more reliable, the need for a rail rapid transit system has not gone away. The bad news is that despite years of calls, SkyTrain expansion is still not on the table. The good news is that the King George BRT project creates a rare opportunity to lay the groundwork now and dramatically reduce the future cost of extending SkyTrain on King George Blvd.
This is possible because constructing BRT requires reconfiguring the roadway to create dedicated bus lanes, and that same work could be used to profile the corridor, locate underground utilities, and secure the right-of-way that future SkyTrain will need.
Even simple design decisions—like leaving a grass boulevard open for a side-running guideway, or reserving extra median space for a centre-running one—could reduce the construction work needed later. Big transit projects always require early works; doing them now, while the corridor is already being rebuilt, is one of the smartest and most cost-effective moves we can make.
SkyTrain advocates were among the earliest supporters of BRT in Surrey
Before the switch from LRT to SkyTrain, we consistently argued that BRT could provide many of the same benefits as Surrey’s proposed surface LRT lines at a fraction of the cost, and we advocated for a BRT line on King George Boulevard—a project TransLink is now working to deliver. Once BRT begins operating, the major improvements in speed and reliability will drive rapid ridership growth, strengthening the case for rapid rail.
Crucially, BRT’s lower price tag and easier implementation will keep that door open for a future upgrade to elevated SkyTrain—an option that a more expensive surface LRT system would have likely eliminated altogether.
