Expo Line - Surrey Langley Extension: Planning & Pre-Construction

[Reecemartin]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

That's what those planners and engineers in City of Surrey continue to think, however they usually do not commute or see the sorry state the neighborhoods around 104th are in. Many local streets feeding to 104th Ave between Whalley Blvd and 148th Ave do not have any sidewalks and it is borderline suicidal when you are walking along these streets.
They are essentially going to place down LRT first before doing ANY infrastructure improvements along supporting arterial (108th Ave and 100th Ave).

I think it's time to get real. First off, I am not overly cynical when it comes to public transportation but I can confidently say that the average Surrey Joe will not be enticed to get out of their car and hop on a glorified bus to connect to either the Skytrain or another bus. THAT IS...unless the price of driving skyrockets (insurance increases, gas prices go sky high or road pricing is introduced). We have seen people tack on as much as 30 minutes to their rush-hour commute avoiding the PMB and people will put up with whatever BS traffic disruptions this project causes. Personally, I would rather drive 40min (and pay 100-150 dollars more) to commute to my destination and put up with whatever traffic rather than walk 10min to a bus, wait X amount of time for a packed bus and board a packed Skytrain only to have to wait X minutes for another packed bus in Vancouver.

It's not just what they think, that's a huge part of transit. Decongests crowded areas and reduces emissions.

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

It's not just what they think, that's a huge part of transit. Decongests crowded areas and reduces emissions.

In theory, and I will not digress with that as we've seen this put into practice with the Skytrain network. It's tried, tested and true when it has been built right. The thing I will continue to argue is that the City of Surrey has done absolutely nothing to address the state of the road/pedestrian network along the corridor...This will continue to be hinder mass transit ridership unless they address this.

The L line offers little to add capacity and reliability over what we have in place. If what I am hearing is correct, there are discussions whether or not it is feasible to single track portions of the line along 104th. This to me tells me the City either thinks; a) the line will not be achieving 8 min or greater frequencies or b) they think reducing 104th Ave to 1 lane each way is a significant issue going forward.

The alternative is upgrading the 96 B-Line to a full BRT system with enclosed shelters, GPS tracking at bus stops, priority queued lights with increased frequencies (5-7 min).

LRT down 104th Ave is completely unnecessary though. You have several express buses including the 96 that can offer a 5-10min commute between Guildford and Surrey Central.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

The L line offers little to add capacity and reliability over what we have in place. If what I am hearing is correct, there are discussions whether or not it is feasible to single track portions of the line along 104th. This to me tells me the City either thinks; a) the line will not be achieving 8 min or greater frequencies or b) they think reducing 104th Ave to 1 lane each way is a significant issue going forward.

The alternative is upgrading the 96 B-Line to a full BRT system with enclosed shelters, GPS tracking at bus stops, priority queued lights with increased frequencies (5-7 min).

LRT down 104th Ave is completely unnecessary though. You have several express buses including the 96 that can offer a 5-10min commute between Guildford and Surrey Central.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

In theory, and I will not digress with that as we've seen this put into practice with the Skytrain network. It's tried, tested and true when it has been built right. The thing I will continue to argue is that the City of Surrey has done absolutely nothing to address the state of the road/pedestrian network along the corridor...This will continue to be hinder mass transit ridership unless they address this.

The L line offers little to add capacity and reliability over what we have in place. If what I am hearing is correct, there are discussions whether or not it is feasible to single track portions of the line along 104th. This to me tells me the City either thinks; a) the line will not be achieving 8 min or greater frequencies or b) they think reducing 104th Ave to 1 lane each way is a significant issue going forward.

The alternative is upgrading the 96 B-Line to a full BRT system with enclosed shelters, GPS tracking at bus stops, priority queued lights with increased frequencies (5-7 min).

LRT down 104th Ave is completely unnecessary though. You have several express buses including the 96 that can offer a 5-10min commute between Guildford and Surrey Central.

I demonstrated earlier that even Skytrain will barely fit at 104th near Surrey Central if they merge the sidewalk and cycling paths.

Meaning it's pretty much essential to single track it at this point if they want to still have a sidewalk at the end of this.

[Reecemartin]

Originally Posted by fredinno

I demonstrated earlier that even Skytrain will barely fit at 104th near Surrey Central if they merge the sidewalk and cycling paths.

Meaning it's pretty much essential to single track it at this point if they want to still have a sidewalk at the end of this.

I'd imagine with all the significant redevelopment plans, the road network around Surrey Central will be worked. IMO I'm not particularly worried that we will be losing sidewalk space, much more likely to simply cut down on road space which is something that I would support, especially in the core.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

I'd imagine with all the significant redevelopment plans, the road network around Surrey Central will be worked. IMO I'm not particularly worried that we will be losing sidewalk space, much more likely to simply cut down on road space which is something that I would support, especially in the core.

Losing the bike paths isn't a huge loss, TBH. Skytrain is compact enough we could just stop there. Not with LRT.

[Reecemartin]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Losing the bike paths isn't a huge loss, TBH. Skytrain is compact enough we could just stop there. Not with LRT.

Considering our regions aspirations on improving bike infrastructure I might argue losing bike paths IS an important thing regardless of the plan. Considering the footprint and costs of bike paths I can't imagine why we wouldn't try to maintain them.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

Considering our regions aspirations on improving bike infrastructure I might argue losing bike paths IS an important thing regardless of the plan. Considering the footprint and costs of bike paths I can't imagine why we wouldn't try to maintain them.

If the alternative is tunneling, the bikes can go on the streets.