Today TransLink official opened the newly expanded Surrey Transit Centre.
According to Doug Kelsey, TransLink’s chief operating officer, the facility is meant to accommodate the growing needs of Surrey well into the future with the help of another new transit centre that is currently being planned for the region. The expanded facility includes over $12 million dollars in upgrade. One of the key green aspects of this project is the installation of a waste-water treatment plant that will reduce water consumption by up to 80 percent.
The expanded facility will be able to handle 300 buses including 50 articulated buses. I asked Doug Kelsey if TransLink has any plans to introduce articulated buses in the South of Fraser anytime soon. He said that they do plan on added service in the near future, but first funding needs to be secured for transit expansion. Right now TransLink is in a holding pattern and speaking to others at TransLink, they are hoping that in the next few weeks the province and mayors will come to a funding agreement to keep the momentum of the last several years going.
Over the past decade, $3.3 billion from senior levels of government has been invested in transit expansion in the region and that has resulted in record ridership since 2004.
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