IMMEDIATE RELEASE – November 5, 2014 – Surrey, BC

We are taking issue with mayoral candidate Doug McCallum’s short-sighted opinion on SkyTrain viability on the Fraser Highway.

In an interview [link] with the Business in Vancouver paper, Mayoral candidate Doug McCallum, who endorsed Light Rail as a Safe Surrey Coalition platform component, told the paper: “[SkyTrain on Fraser] doesn’t work because you go through huge agricultural land with no ridership”.

However, both sides of the Serpentine Floodplain are characterized by heavily-used transit lines and very heavily-built urban areas. To the west: a heavily travelled #502 corridor; to the east: Clayton Heights, the most densely-populated single-family neighbourhood in Metro Vancouver.

“You can think of the Serpentine Floodplain like a big river through a city; at the end of the day, there’s people to be served on both sides. McCallum misunderstands this because like every other LRT supporter in Surrey, he didn’t do his homework,” says Daryl Dela Cruz, a prominent Surrey transit advocate and the campaign manager for SkyTrain for Surrey. “I’m saddened that he doesn’t seem to know the geography of his own city. That kind of incompetence isn’t fit for office.”

A SkyTrain line down Fraser Highway would provide faster service and attract twice as many new transit trips as proposed LRT. Each SkyTrain crossing the floodplain between town centre would be well-utilized by tens of thousands of daily riders, disputing McCallum’s “no ridership” claim.

SkyTrain for Surrey is a local grassroots organization calling for a SkyTrain and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network instead of the currently-proposed on-street Light Rail system in Surrey. Our campaign has called on decision-makers to build the Langley Extension of the SkyTrain Expo Line, in conjunction with an extension of the 96 B-Line to Coquitlam Centre and White Rock as a Bus Rapid Transit system.

For further information, contact:

Daryl Dela Cruz, Founding Director
Phone: + 81-80-3962-9281 or ask for Skype handle; [email protected]
(Note: Daryl was out of country at the time of this release. The above number is no longer valid. Please call Daryl at his current number at (604) 329-3529 if you have any inquiries).

Disclaimer: SkyTrain for Surrey is an ongoing, issues-oriented activism campaign and is NOT an election campaign.