In Surrey, it’s SkyTrain versus LRT
Some council candidates still hoping city changes course despite commitment to light rail plan
It should be a done deal. The prime minister, premier and head of the regional transportation authority have agreed: The money is committed, procurement has started and light rail is coming to Surrey.
However, the debate about whether the city should continue with its $1.65-billion at-grade light rail project or change course and build a SkyTrain somehow continues.
Surrey First, the reigning party on council, has been the strongest advocate for at-grade light rail south of the Fraser.
“By no means am I going to suggest that SkyTrain is not good. SkyTrain is good to get downtown, but that’s not what we’re trying to accomplish here,” said Tom Gill, the party’s mayoral candidate and a longtime councillor.
Beyond the 10.5-km, 11-stop Surrey-New- ton-Guildford line — for which work is expected to start in 2020 with completion in 2024 — Surrey has also planned for light rail to Langley via Fraser Highway.
Gill and Surrey First have promoted LRT for its ability to “shape” the city while moving its growing population. Gill said the system that’s proposed for Surrey is safe and “robust,” not an inferior technology as some have argued.
He blames some of the opposition on a failure to engage and educate the public, and going forward the city needs to make a better effort, because abandoning the project is not an option.
“If we don’t see this project come to fruition, it could be several decades before this kind of investment could come back to the city,” he said.
Former mayor Doug McCallum, who is making another run at his old position with the Safe Surrey Coalition, burst back onto the political scene in July with a promise to scrap the entire at-grade light rail program in favour of a SkyTrain out to Langley.
And in spite of the assertions of those funding the LRT project that it’s going ahead, McCallum remains convinced he could change course.
“Light rail is not a system that should be built anywhere in the Metro Vancouver area,” McCallum said. “You ask anybody in the community, they want to see SkyTrain.”
McCallum is convinced that thanks to his previous experience on TransLink’s board, he can have the funding “easily switched” from LRT to SkyTrain, and the project can be done for far less than the $2.9-billion estimate if about half of the SkyTrain line is at grade.
Rajesh Jayaprakash, mayoral candidate for People First Surrey, said if his party, which opposes LRT, ends up holding council seats they would let the people of Surrey vote on the mode they prefer.
However, changing from LRT to SkyTrain is not as easy as McCallum and other SkyTrain proponents make it out to be.
This week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told media that if a new council changed its mind, the money could not simply be transferred to another project.
Trudeau said the money “was not transferable”, and a new funding discussion would have to take place for a new SkyTrain project.
“(W)e are moving forward with the Surrey LRT regardless of the outcome of the next election — municipal election — that money is flowing so that people get the transit they need,” Trudeau said.
Premier John Horgan had a similar message: “We’re not scrapping LRT.”
TransLink’s CEO said the business cases have been approved, funding from all levels of government was locked down this week and money will flow as outlined.
As for the Surrey-Langley line, there is funding in Phase 2 of the regional transportation plan for design work, TransLink said, and any future routing and other details would be part of a future business case.
Somewhere in the middle, there’s Bruce Hayne and his Surrey Integrity Now party.
As a former member of Surrey First, Hayne was a proponent of at-grade light rail and said he has seen it work well in other cities.
However, he said that if he could “wave a magic wand,” he would likely reverse the order of the projects, building rapid transit to Langley first, and scrap the light-rail line to Guildford, instead extending the Newton line into South Surrey. But, there’s still time to reconsider the line to Langley, he said.
“My gut tells me that SkyTrain for that line would certainly be a better option than LRT,” Hayne said.
He said scrapping the whole at-grade light rail concept at this point was a bad idea.
“That will put Surrey back another at least half a decade, if not more, before we start to see anything again,” he said. “Surrey deserves much more immediate solutions than that.”
Proudly Surrey, which is running five council candidates — including Pauline Greaves for mayor — was thinking along the same line as Hayne.
Council candidate Stuart Parker can’t fathom the idea of sending money back to three levels of government, tearing up signed contracts and advocating for an unfunded line.