City survey misleads stakeholders on bus rapid transit

The City of Surrey is misleading stakeholders about LRT and bus rapid transit in a CitySpeaks citizen survey released this morning.

The survey, conducted by the city in conjunction with consultant Steer Davies-Gleave, asks survey participants to compare express buses and LRT based on a subset of pre-selected criteria. The criteria suggest that an Express Bus cannot support LRT features like all-door boarding or real-time information, which is misleading.

Bus Rapid Transit supports all of the same features as LRT – including multi-door boarding, real-time arrival displays, lighted stations, and traffic-signal priority. Other bus routes in Metro Vancouver, such as the #3 Main and #99 B-Line, are already employing features such as real-time arrival displays and all-door boarding. These can be added as upgrades to the existing 96 B-Line at a much lower cost, at a gradual pace and with fewer construction inconveniences. 

Bus Rapid Transit can also make use of hybrid diesel-electric buses or be electrified (i.e. trolley buses) to offer smooth, quiet rides like LRT. Many modern, hybrid articulated buses are already in service in Metro Vancouver, operating out of the Richmond bus depot on routes such as the #403, #480 and #49.