[BCPhil]

I'm sorry, but there's a grid in Vancouver?

Almost every bus route funnels either through downtown or has their terminus at a major bus loop at a Skytrain station (or UBC). And don't even get me started on Burnaby.

Transit is successful in the region because people want to get to and from Skytrain. Skytrain covers long distances in an acceptable amount of time. So people want to get to it, and as quickly as possible. 2 buses to get to Skytrain is out of the question. You may as well drive.

Most bus only trips will be those who are on the West Side and can ride a single bus from their doorstep straight into downtown.

Surrey will need to better reorganize the bus routes (from what I've seen) so that people can get from their home to the closest station as quickly as possible. If you look at Surrey's most popular routes, they are the ones that travel direct to a station. The routes South of 72nd are ghost buses for the simple fact that you have to transfer at Newton or Scottsdale to get to Skytrain.