Light Rail Defenders in Surrey are Wrong on Costs

SURREY DODGED A BULLET — AS LIGHT RAIL PROJECTS ACROSS CANADA COME IN BILLIONS OVER BUDGET

As a new municipal election approaches, some local political voices are attempting to revive the failed Surrey-Newton-Guildford Light Rail Transit (LRT) plan. These defenders claim an LRT system would have been completed by now, on time and on budget at $1.65 billion. However, real-world evidence from across Canada proves that this cost estimate was a fiscal fantasy.

In Mississauga—Toronto’s equivalent to Surrey—the Hazel McCallion (Hurontario) LRT project was originally pitched at $1.6 billion. Today, the project’s cost has ballooned to $6.2 billion—exceeding the cost of the Surrey Langley SkyTrain, while taking twice as long to build.

Surrey’s 2018 decision to pivot to SkyTrain—a fully grade‑separated, high‑capacity rapid transit system—has insulated residents from the spiralling costs, construction nightmares, and performance failures now plaguing LRT systems nationwide. As we wait for the construction of our SkyTrain, cities that pressed ahead with surface LRT are now confronting the consequences:

• TORONTO: LRT lines slower than buses
  Toronto’s Line 5 (Eglinton Crosstown) and Line 6 (Finch West) LRTs launched with severe traffic signal coordination issues, making trains slower than the buses they replaced. Although improvements are underway, the backlash was so significant that the City Mayor recently allocated budget funds to convert the upcoming Scarborough East LRT project into an elevated SkyTrain-style system.

• OTTAWA: LRT so slow, they had to bring back the buses
  The capital’s new light rail link to the airport (Line 4) is so slow and inefficient that the city was forced to reintroduce express bus service to restore reasonable travel times—doubling operating costs during a budget crunch and a bus fleet shortage. Meanwhile, Ottawa’s primary LRT fleet on Line 1 continues to suffer from mechanical failures: the trains, designed for slow European street systems, were never meant for the higher speeds and heavier loads required in a major Canadian city. As large portions of the fleet are sidelined for repairs, transit riders in Ottawa face chronic overcrowding, delays, and unreliable service every single day.

• EDMONTON: Ridership failure could halt all future LRT plans
  Edmonton’s new Valley Line Southeast LRT was projected to carry 31,500 riders per day. Two years after opening, it is carrying only about 9,000 — less than one‑third of expectations. The line’s slow, street‑running design and frequent stops at traffic signals have undermined its usefulness and cast doubt on the viability of future LRT expansions. It’s become unclear if Edmonton will be able to fund any other LRTs in its city plan, as it competes with Calgary and with other cities in Canada for increasingly scarce transit funds.

Pictured in header: Crowds wait to board a single-car LRT in Ottawa, where trains have been sidelined for repair due to mechanical failures.