CMBC held an Open House recently to provide info to customers about two planned new routes in Surrey: the 531 White Rock-Langley and the 399 King George B-Line. There will be another open house on May 7th.

All in all, I tip my hat to TransLink and CMBC for, what seems like, the fasttracking of this B-Line. It was actually almost two years ago now, back in 2007, when I was so frustrated with our system South of the Fraser that I created a comprehensive transit plan for the area. Three years is a long time to see something come to fruition (the 399 starts in 2010), especially something as relatively simple and low cost as an express bus route. However, considering the timelines that *have* been given to us before, I am very happy and excited to think that it’s just under a year until I too will have a B-Line in my neck of the woods. Huzzah for real transport alternatives!

Here’s what I was able to learn:

531 Route

- The 531 will be introduced to the system in December. They aren’t anticipating too much ridership, so the route will start off with 30 minute service all day, every day, till 9pm with a Community Shuttle. Its likely terminus is at Willowbrook rather than Langley Centre, because it’s a much more popular destination – a lot of White Rockers used to big box shop in Langley before Grandview Heights was built.

399 King George B-Line

- The 399 “B-Line” will introduce a limited stop, express service with articulated buses along King George. The route begins in Guildford at 104 and 152, travels west along 104th, connects to Surrey Central and King George SkyTrain stations, travels south along King George Highway, connecting to Newton Exchange and the South Surrey Park and Ride, before turning south onto 152 St and ending at the Semiamoo Shopping Centre.

- Headways between Guildford and Newton were initially planned to be every 7.5 minutes – morning, noon, and night! Every second B-Line would go to White Rock, meaning headways of every 15 mins.

- Guildford to Surrey Central will take about 15 minutes. Surrey Central to Newton will take about 15 minutes. Newton to White Rock will take about 20 minutes.

- Local service would be reduced along the 320 Fleetwood and 321 Newton & White Rock. It would also eliminate the 394 peak hour route between White Rock and King George SkyTrain.

- The 399 is planned to begin service on March 1, 2010. This is of course subject to change, but the plan is to begin once the Olympics have wrapped.

- The 399 is an introductory service. It’s not a full BRT route. It will feature articulated buses, along with some possible queue jumpers and transit priority signals. It will not include “bus stations”, any new street furniture, nor will there be dedicated lanes or a busway.

- The 399 is being introduced several years earlier than initially planned due to the fact that it’s not a BRT. Furthermore, most of the route already has enough space to accomodate articulated buses (such as a dedicated area when a bus pulls over to drop off/pick up). Only Newton Exchange would require some slight modification to accomodate artics.

- The 399 is a working name. It was compared to the 145 which is noted on SkyTrain maps as a “B-Line like” rapid transit route, despite the fact that it’s not actually a B-Line. B-Line desgination is up to TransLink, not CMBC, and there is currently no strategy underway to consolidate the B-Line brand. It was also noted that the BRT type features, such as “bus stations” are quite expensive to install along roadways – money that just isn’t available.

- The 399 will use the buses from the 98 B-Line (Vancouver to Richmond), which will be discontinued once the Canada Line opens in September. The buses will be retrofit with primarily mechnical tune ups, but may include some interior adjustments. The buses will be back on the road for the Olympics, then come to Surrey.

Other Tidbits

- There is no B-Line planned for Fraser Highway for a while due to its continued construction, and that that road would require significant modifications to accomodate artics (see above).

- The MoT/TransLink Surrey Rapid Transit Study isn’t due to begin till Fall – likely because of the election. Surrey is not the priority, UBC Line is. UBC Line not expected to be done until 2020 – at least at the current pace.

- Current Guildford Exchange will be no more – eventually. New exchange will locate at 156 St and 104 Ave. Planned private development to incorporate the new exchange fell through with the recession. Discussions are ongoing.

- No plans for NightBus network changes. No demand for NightBus routes in Surrey. Status of NightBus network Phase 2 study unknown.

- New bus route between Maple Ridge and Langley Centre is expected to be popular. The limited stop route is designed to get people from Walnut Grove and Langley across the River to the West Coast Express. Apparently there’s a lot of Langley residents that work Downtown, so the expectation is that they will take the bus plus the train now that it’s a real option.