Riders can expect a bit more elbow space when they board a bus in Surrey or North Delta – particularly along the 319 route – with improvements on the way, says TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn.
Speaking in a Zoom quarterly board meeting on June 23, Quinn noted ridership in Surrey, and in the southeast sub-region south of the Fraser River, has had the strongest ridership recovery throughout Metro Vancouver since the pandemic took hold.
“To address this, we did raise bus service, we increased bus service for that sub-region last year by eight per cent,” Quinn said. “We’re continuing to put more service into that area and in fact starting next week we’re actually permanently boosting some of our key routes as part of our summer service change. We know the 319 is the busiest bus route south of the Fraser and one of the busiest bus routes actually in the entire region.”
Quinn said that’s “one big reason” why TransLink’s next rapid bus service – the R6 – is being added to the Scott Road corridor, to serve riders in Surrey and Delta. He said the R6 will be “on track to run alongside the 319 next year.”
READ ALSO: Surrey reviewing Scott Road with eye to running ‘fast’ bus and densifying corridor
“It will really take bus service in Surrey and Delta to the next level,” Quinn said. “Improvements are on the way.”
The board heard that by the end of 2021 annual ridership was at 49.4 per cent of pre-COVID boardings.
“Just recently our average weekend journeys hit 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels which is so, so promising,” Quinn said.
TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn. (Screen shot)
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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