Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Lee Haber, who is the Technical Lead at Mountain Valley Institute, a B.C. public transit advocacy and planning organization.
It is not often that the BC NDP and the Conservative Party of British Columbia agree on something, but when it came to expanding SkyTrain to Newton in Surrey, they wasted little time.
Within minutes of each other, both parties announced that they would bring SkyTrain to Newton Town Centre. Both announcements followed Doug McCallum, who won back the Surrey mayor’s chair last Saturday, promising the same thing.
That is welcome news for the people of Newton. Surrey’s largest community was in line for light rail until 2018, when that project was cancelled in favour of SkyTrain to Langley. Eight years later, Newton is still waiting.
But agreeing on a destination is the easy part.
Neither party has said what the extension would look like, what it would cost, or how it would be funded. At Mountain Valley Institute, we’ve worked through those questions as part of a greater, long-range rapid transit plan for the region. Here’s what we’ve learned.
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- David Eby's BC NDP commit $250 million toward TransLink's new Bus Rapid Transit line in Surrey
- Cost of TransLink's King George Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit line soars to $700 million
- Lorne Doerkson's B.C. Conservatives promise 10-lane George Massey Bridge instead of $8.5-billion, eight-lane immersed tunnel
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How an extension could work
A SkyTrain extension to Newton would be a branch of the Expo Line. It would split from the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension — a project currently under construction for a 2029 opening — along the hydro corridor east of King George Station, then rejoin King George Boulevard near 92 Avenue and head south toward Newton.
Like the rest of SkyTrain in Surrey, it would be mostly elevated, and trains would run every six minutes along this branch for most of the day.
Trains would run from Newton straight through to Surrey Central Station and on to Vancouver, with no transfer. The trip from Surrey Central Station to Newton would take about 10 minutes, and we estimate the extension would carry 35,000 to 40,000 riders per day.
Theoretical potential concept for the Newton SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line from Surrey City Centre. (Lee Haber/submitted)
Get costs under control
However, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Here are the details that are essential for ensuring a SkyTrain extension to Newton is worth the investment.
The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension is costing about $375 million per km for an extension of the Expo Line that is entirely elevated. That is two to three times the inflation-adjusted cost of the Canada Line, half of which runs underground.
We cannot repeat that. Other countries build comparable rail rapid transit projects for far less by keeping technical expertise in-house, increasing competition by dividing the project into multiple tenders, and itemizing contracts to protect against inflation and change orders.
Applying those practices, we estimate the Newton extension could be built for around $100 million per km, or about $750 million in total, a figure that is in line with historical Skytrain construction costs.
Improve the bus network around it, and put Newton Centre Station underground
A SkyTrain extension is only as useful as the bus network that feeds into it. Today, there is no frequent east-west bus route anywhere across North Surrey, meaning that many people living a short distance from King George Boulevard have no reliable way to reach it.
That should change before the extension opens, not after. Frequent service on 88 Avenue and 96 Avenue would connect thousands more people to the new stations. SkyTrain should speed up bus improvements in the area, not become a reason to delay them.
As well, while most of the extension should be elevated, a short section at Newton Centre should go underground.
Why add this seemingly unnecessary underground expense? The reason is to accommodate future rapid transit. The R6 Scott Road RapidBus on 72 Avenue will likely be replaced by rapid transit one day, turning Newton into a hub where two lines cross. The topography makes it much easier for SkyTrain on King George Boulevard to run below a future 72 Avenue line. An elevated station built today would make that crossing far harder and more expensive to add later.
Theoretical potential concept for the Newton SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line from Surrey City Centre. (Lee Haber/submitted)
End the Newton SkyTrain extension at 64 Avenue
Most discussion assumes the Newton SkyTrain extension would end near 72 Avenue. It should go a little further, to 64 Avenue. That would serve more of Newton and allow better bus connections, particularly with the No. 364 Langley Centre/Scottsdale, which would link SkyTrain to the relatively dense neighbourhood of West Newton.
It would also prepare the corridor for what comes next. South Surrey and White Rock will eventually need SkyTrain too. Ending at 64 Avenue means less of King George Boulevard would have to be torn up again when bus rapid transit south of Newton is replaced by a SkyTrain extension.
Use development to pay for it
We understand the provincial government is facing large deficits in the coming years. This line doesn’t have to add to it.
New stations make the land around them more valuable, and under B.C.’s Transit-Oriented Areas legislation, that land is already set to be zoned for more homes.
Newton Centre Master Development Plan. (TransLink/Surrey City Development Corporation)
The provincial government should pass legislation allowing a public transit expansion charge on new development around new stations, dedicated to building the line that created that value. TransLink already collects a regional development cost charge, but it is spread across the whole region. This would be a station-area charge tied to the new line.
We estimate the total potential of such a charge along this corridor exceeds $5 billion. How much is collected, and how quickly, will depend on the pace of development. But it would be more than enough to cover the provincial government’s share of the capital cost.
It looks like Newton’s long wait for rapid transit may finally be coming to an end. While every major party agrees it should get SkyTrain, the real question is whether the next provincial government will build it well: at a sensible cost, with a strong bus network supporting it, and paid for without adding to the deficit and delaying other necessary transit expansions.
Get those right, and Newton will not just be directly served by a SkyTrain connection. It will get one worth waiting for.
November 2024 revised design for Green Timbers Station on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. (Government of BC)
- You might also like:
- BC NDP and Conservatives promise extending SkyTrain to Newton, aligning with Surrey mayor-elect Doug McCallum's plan
- TransLink stresses funding needs as provincial parties promise SkyTrain extension to Newton
- David Eby's BC NDP commit $250 million toward TransLink's new Bus Rapid Transit line in Surrey
- Cost of TransLink's King George Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit line soars to $700 million
- Lorne Doerkson's B.C. Conservatives promise 10-lane George Massey Bridge instead of $8.5-billion, eight-lane immersed tunnel
- Where the BC NDP, Conservatives, and Greens stand on extending SkyTrain to UBC