Langley-Maple Ridge Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Configuration Open House

Earlier this week, I posted about TransLink’s planning work for a new Bus Rapid Transit line connecting from the Willowbrook Mall area, along 200th Street, and up to Haney in Maple Ridge. Bus Rapid Transit is similar to RapidBus, but with dedicated bus lanes to prevent it from getting stuck in traffic.

TransLink is hosting a series of in-person open houses, including in Langley City. You can drop in anytime and stay for as little or as long as you want.

The details are as follows:
Date: Sunday, February 1st
Time: Noon – 4pm
Location: Timms Community Centre (20399 Douglas Crescent)

According to TransLink, you can “learn more about the proposed Langley-Haney Place Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. Meet the project team, ask questions, and share your feedback on program features and route options.”

For a list of other open houses for this BRT, please visit TransLink’s website.

Langley City Parks Foundation AGM - Enabling People to Donate to Enhance City Parks

The Langley City Parks Foundation was founded in 1979 by Langley City as a non-profit society to allow people and organizations to donate funds, purchase equipment such as benches and picnic tables, and purchase trees to enhance parks in our community.

Not to complicate things, but there is also the Langley Foundation, which is a non-profit with a broader manadate which also supports parks, trees, and trails projects in both the City and the Township. For example, they partnered with Langley City to enable people to donate money to support purchasing trees and benches along the Fraser Highway Oneway.

Back to the Langley City Parks Foundation, the society had its annual general meeting on Monday night. All members of Langley City Council are members of the society. Anyone can also apply to be a member of the society. Currently, there are two other members in addition to Council.

In 2025, the Foundation received three donations to plant two trees at Sendall Gardens and one at Douglas Park.

Unfortunately, the cost of everything is rising, and donations no longer cover the City's costs to install and maintain trees, benches, or picnic tables donated through the Foundation.

For example, it costs the City $3,290 to plant a tree and maintain it for 10 years, while the Foundation suggests a donation of $1,000. A wooden bench cost $5,030 for the City to install and maintain for 10 years, while the Foundation suggests a donation of $2,220.

At the meeting, it was discussed that the Foundation's donation price list will need to increase, though by how much was up for further discussion. The thought was that the City should continue to subsidize some of the costs rather than pursue full cost recovery. A proposed new pricing structure will be presented at a future meeting of the Foundation and is likely to come into effect in 2027.

If you would like to learn more about the Langley City Parks Foundation and how to support our parks, please visit its webpage.

January 19 Council Notes - Langley City’s Tree Protection Bylaw in Effect. Council Appointments.

As I’ve been posting about, a new tree protection bylaw has been working its way through the approval process over the last month or so. Yesterday afternoon, Council adopted a new Tree Protection and Management Bylaw.

In the City, you now must have a permit to remove a tree that:

• Is City-owned
• Is in an Environmentally Sensitive Area
• Has a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 20 centimetres or more on a lot subject to a development application
• Has a DBH of 75 centimetres or more on any lot
• Is planted to replace an existing tree under the Tree Protection and Management Bylaw
• Is protected by a restrictive covenant in favour of the City

As I posted last week, there is zero cost for homeowners for a permit, but there is for redevelopment applicants.

A removal permit would only be issued for trees that are:

• Dead, or more than 50% of the crown is dead
• Causing damage to a building or other damage that can only be mitigated by removal
• Noted by an arborist that a tree is at high or extreme risk of failure
• Required to be removed to comply with another City bylaw

Fines start at $3,000 per tree removed without a permit that is subject to this bylaw. Fines can be higher.

This post doesn’t cover all the scenarios in which you do or do not need a permit to remove a tree. Your best bet is to contact City Hall if you are planning to remove a tree.

Langley City Council has committees, such as the Environmental Sustainability Committee and the Crime Prevention Committee, that provide advice to Council. Members of Council are appointed to these committees, as well as to several external committees and workgroups. These appointments occur annually. Council approved its 2026 appointment yesterday. You can read more about these appointments on the City’s website.

Provide Feedback on Langley-Maple Ridge Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Configuration

As part of last year’s approved TransLink’s 2025 Investment Plan, the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation approved advancing detailed planning for two new bus rapid transit lines in the South of Fraser along King George Boulevard and between Haney and Willowbrook.

We currently don’t have bus rapid transit in Metro Vancouver, but the key feature is that buses travel in dedicated lanes and have priority at intersections. It shares other features similar to RapidBus.

Between the SkyTrain expansion and new bus rapid transit lines, the following map shows the proposed future state of rapid transit South of the Fraser and in Maple Ridge.

Map of future rapid transit lines in the South of Fraser and Maple Ridge. Select the map to enlarge.

Bus rapid transit between Willowbrook SkyTrain Station and Carvolth Exchange will take between 16 and 18 minutes, faster than driving during peak periods.

Currently, TransLink is gathering feedback on the proposed travel lane reconfiguration to support bus rapid transit and is providing more information about the bus rapid transit corridors. You can visit their bus rapid transit webpage to take a survey, learn more about the corridors, and find out when and where in-person engagement opportunities are occurring.

While bus rapid transit is not running on Langley City roads, the Willowbrook Mall area is partially in the City. It will also hopefully improve access to and from the rest of Langley City, depending on how well it integrates with the local bus network.