The Conservatives and Liberals are dumping millions of dollars of LRT operating debt onto the community with no consultation.
SkyTrain for Surrey, a local coalition of transit users calling for SkyTrain over Light Rail Transit, has previously noted that there has been no discussion on how the proposed LRT’s operations will be funded after it opens. Unlike an extension of existing SkyTrain, an LRT system would require new maintenance facilities and drivers on every train—resulting in high operating costs that must be paid for every year in addition to the capital cost of building the system.
The annual operating debt, accounting for fare revenues, was estimated by TransLink and the Province in a commissioned joint study to be $22 million from opening day.
That’s 40% of the cost to provide the South of Fraser’s existing bus network.
No one in either the Conservative Party, Liberal Party, City of Surrey, Mayors Council, or TransLink has explained how this annual operating cost is going to be paid. With no plan, raising the money to pay for LRT operations will require cuts to local bus services and/or tax increases, against the will of regional voters who voted “No” to a new tax in this year’s transportation plebiscite.
With faster and more reliable service, a SkyTrain extension would pay back its operating costs through higher ridership, and create no new operating debts. A SkyTrain and Bus Rapid Transit alternative has been previously studied by TransLink and the Province, and would cost the same to build as an LRT – yet cost less to operate and offer twice the travel time savings.
The Surrey LRT system will not recover its operating costs. This is because the fare revenue projected over 30 years creates a $720 million shortfall over the 30-year lifecycle. It will require a subsidy of $22 million per year on opening day (increasing to $28 million per year by 2041) to operate the LRT.1
Adjusted for inflation, this is 40% of the existing cost to operate all 300-series, 500-series and C-series routes servicing Surrey and Langley.2
SkyTrain would offer faster, safer, and more reliable service—costing only $6 million per year to subsidize operations. This would then be eliminated entirely with concurrent optimization of local bus routes.3
According to data from the 2012 TransLink/MOTI joint study Surrey Rapid Transit Alternatives Analysis (SRTAA) Phase 2 Evaluation.
SkyTrain for Surrey is the community organization that advocated for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension (SLS). From our beginnings as a petition calling for the scrapping of a street-level LRT proposal, we grew into a community of like-minded folk, taking on various projects such as making SkyTrain an election issue in 2018 as a registered advocacy group. Today we are pushing for the construction of the SLS as well as the King George SkyTrain extension (KGS).
Daryl Dela Cruz – Founder, SkyTrain for Surrey
Phone: +1 604 329 3529, [email protected]
Be sure to subscribe to the Surrrey-Langley SkyTrain's mailing list (on the contacts page of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain website) for official project updates! There is also now an official project email to get in touch with the planning team: [email protected].
