Surrey is getting a faster bus ride.
The city will have one of five RapidBus Service routes that will begin operating in Metro Vancouver in January 2020, with our’s running on King George Boulevard between Guildford Town Centre and the Newton Exchange along the upgraded 96 B-Line.
TransLink says these mostly green and blue buses will offer service that’s 20 per cent faster than the norm, thanks to “priority measures including bus-only lanes, signal priority, queue jumps at intersections, fewer stops and all-door boarding.
These five routes will be able to take on 12,000 passengers per hour, during rush hour.
“RapidBus will deliver a faster, more frequent service with new customer amenities,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond. Among them will be real-time next-bus digital signage, real-time voice activated information, sheltered stops and larger, articulated hybrid buses.
The five routes will serve 11 communities. The other four routes will be Marine Drive (Park Royal to Phibbs Exchange), Lougheed Highway (Coquitlam Central Station to Haney Place), 41st Avenue (UBC to Joyce-Collingwood Station), and Hastings (SFU to Burrard Station).
Two more RapidBus routes are expected to come on line in 2021 serving Surrey, Delta and Richmond, with five more after that.
TransLink photo