Definition:

The provision of multiple quality, and attractive, forms of transportation to facilitate the mobility of people throughout the city. Includes a focus on ensuring the long term sustainability of the options provided, while also providing these options in the near future.

Background:

Transportation, all things considered, isn’t actually a *huge* deal out here. Most Surrey residents own a car and deal with reasonable traffic loads. The minority (which includes myself) rides the buses and has to put up with poor service. Few cycle or walk to get around. However, we can’t stay on this road, pun intended, forever. At some point, with too large an increase in population and not enough road expansion, the drivers will get angry. But; as everyone knows, roads can’t be expanded forever.

So that’s the dilemma. From here, we need to start looking at ways other than the car for people to get around. One simple strategy is to improve transit to the point where you can sufficiently attract drivers out of their cars. Another one, somewhat pioneered in our region is the idea of building complete communities. With this strategy, the concept is that people will be able to work, live, and play, in the same area, and one could simply walk or cycle anywhere they needed to go. Longer trips could be taken by transit or even a car share type program.

At one point in time, Surrey grew up around the Interurban, sprouting communities like Newton, Sullivan, and Cloverdale. Unfortunately, we are no longer a rail city, and growth has been haphazardly occurring around roads. It’s quite rare to see anyone walk in the city - only from the car to the store. Don’t even think about cycling in the area unless you are ready to fight the drivers.

This is unsustainable and needs to change. Now.

Imagine living somewhere where you wanted to walk to the store because there was things to see along the way and you felt safe. Imagine being able to safely cycle on your own lane, physically separated from the auto traffic or down beautiful greenways along the creeks and rivers. Imagine being able to walk a short distance to a bus stop with a modern, sharp looking weather shelter and a comfy bench, along with a transit map, a garbage and recycling bin, and daily newspapers.

We can make this a reality. Here’s how.

1. A Transportation Hierarchy

Development in Surrey is based around the car. Simple as that. There have been attempts to make developments a bit more friendly to other forms of transport. For example, making sure sidewalks are built, or bike lanes are painted. But, you’re still building for cars, not people.

No more.

Surrey needs to establish a transportation hierarchy that will apply an overarching policy surrounding developments and the way people get around. Taken straight from SmartGrowth BC, with the most important beginning first:

• Walking
• Cycling
• Public Transit
• Goods and Commercial Services
• High Occupancy Vehicles
• Single Occupant Vehicles

With this philosophy in place, developments will be made once again for people, not cars.

2. Bus Stop Initiative

Surrey doesn’t have too much control over transit and is, quite frankly, held captive by TransLink and the provincial government on that matter. The one area they have jurisdiction over though is the bus stops and what amenities are located there. If Surrey is truly dedicated to transit and transportation alternatives, our bus stops need to be at least as good as Vancouver’s.

First off, Surrey and its citizens need to decide whether they are fine with adspace paying for a large portion of this program. We could define ourselves as the city without advertising. Bus stops could be adopted by the local community and feature job boards and school artwork. Or, they could have ads for car drivers. This decision needs to be made as it influences funding.

From there, the City needs to hold a design contest with local architects to design modular bus stop amenities that can give the City an overarching transit identity, but still flexible enough to change minor cues such as colour to suit each of the six town centres individually.

Next, the City needs to define progressive guidelines for bus stop amenities and also take a good look at the ridership data. For example, some stops may be places where everyone always exits - a stop which would unlikely need a shelter; at least compared to one where riders are waiting for the bus.

Taking these variations into consideration, I generally support the concept that all stops should feature at least a shelter. This is Metro Vancouver. It rains. Shelters are needed above anything else. Shelters can also be comfortably leaned upon. A shelter is of much more use than a seat. Also, all stops with shelters should incorporate a transit map into the design.

All stops should also feature a garbage/recycling bin, in various sizes depending on the usage of the stop. Busier stops should also have comfortable seating, as well as newspaper bins.

It may seem like a huge initiative, but could actually dramatically improve the transit experience for all riders for quite a low cost, especially if it is partially funded through adspace. Think about it. Standing in the rain could make someone want to never ride the bus again. Having a newspaper to read could dramatically reduce the stress one faces waiting for a late bus - similar to the effect the radio has on drivers stuck in traffic. Minor investments with huge benefits.

3. Cycling Network Initiative

This is another “best buy”, similar to the bus stop initiative. For a very low capital investment, Surrey could make huge strides in terms of cycling usage.

Cycling could be Surrey’s defining feature. We could be the national capital of cycling. Why not? It’s fun, it’s healthy, it’s green.

In fact, a ton of the immigrants living in Surrey have known cycling for most of their lives. It’s disappointing seeing them seek safety cycling on the sidewalk, away from the traffic.

Ask anyone why they don’t cycle and they’ll reply, somewhere near the top, that it’s not safe! Bike lanes don’t encourage cycling, at least not among the majority of the public. We need physical separation.

Of course, just like any form of transportation, there needs to be a network. That is why, under my originally proposed Surrey Cycling Initiative, the City would make capital investments into the system to complete the network in the near future (i.e. a couple of years). And as I said, building a whole cycling network costs so little in comparison to funding road expansion.

The initiative revolves around creating two major networks.

• A greenway network would feature long distance routes running through the City’s expanded green space in coordination with the Nature Network Strategy in the Green Spaces pillar. These would run along the farms, the creeks, and through the parks - connecting them all up for enjoyable recreational use. It would be Surrey’s large scale equivalent of Vancouver’s extremely successful Seawall route. Surrey has had a long term greenways plan for a while - what I am suggesting is a renewed look at the routes proposed, and making the investment to build these routes in the very near future.

• The second network is targeted mainly for commuters. And as I said before, to make people feel comfortable to ever do so, there needs to be physical separation. The commuter network would feature physically separated cycling lanes, alongside sidewalks, down the major roads in Surrey (aka: King George, Fraser, Scott Road, 152 St., etc.). There are a number of ways the separation could be achieved, but there needs to be something there (i.e. bollards, a mini median, trees and grass, a small concrete strip, etc.)

Furthermore, in coordination with the Progressive Traffic Calming Strategy, further down in this pillar, measures would be taken to make cycling safer in neighbourhoods and residential zones.

4. Surrey Rapid Transit Plan

One of the difficulties of the regional provision of transit services is that municipalities don’t have as much control over when and what they get. Metro Vancouver has had a few corridors that have generally been known as future rapid transit routes - for example, King George and 104th, along with Fraser Hwy, have been “planned” to one day feature some form of rapid transit. However, it’s difficult for TransLink to know what exactly we want or, moreover, need, and where.

Most certainly, the City itself, as a representative of its citizens needs to take a more progressive step forward in the whole rapid transit planning process. The City of Vancouver has actually developed many transportation plans throughout the years, always including specifics and details surrounding transit. They’ve also had a Rapid Transit Office open ever since the Millennium Line began construction years ago. It was kept open for the construction of the Canada Line and is now initiating early planning, in conjuction with TransLink, for the eventual extension of the Millennium Line to UBC.

We need something similar in Surrey - or we are never going to get the transit services we need.

To that end, I propose that Surrey take the initiative to undertake a large consultation process with citizens and outline a long term transit plan for the City. This will determine core corridors and high demand routes - two very important factors in facilitating sustainable development, whether or not the transit exists today or is coming eventually.

Once we let it be known more clearly what we need and when we need it by, through the completed plan, the City needs to take a more proactive approach to advancing the transit agenda for Surrey residents. This means working together with other organizations and levels of government to leverage our combined resources to get Surrey citizens onto fast, efficient, and comfortable transit.

5. Progressive Traffic Calming Strategy

The current traffic calming strategy is failing in two main realms.

• It requires inception from the community. This means that unless people truly care about their neighbourhood and have enough support for traffic calming, it won’t be put in.
• The traffic calming features in use aren’t always bike friendly.

The solution is quite simple. Require a traffic calming strategy to be incorporated in all new developments. Also, update the strategy to include traffic level guidelines for calming features to be installed in certain areas. For example, you could set baselines according to how many cars a road is designed for - if it surpasses this number, traffic calming is installed. Similar baselines could be set around the number of speeding tickets that have been written around a certain location - or the number of accidents.

Also, update the acceptable built facilities to ensure that traffic calming is friendly towards cyclists. For example, some cyclists have difficulty with roundabouts that feature an island in the center. This could be adjusted by removing the island, and allowing cyclists to proceed directly forward, while cars would have to do a roundabout. Or, you could just not have roundabouts in the first place, and do things like speed bumps or traffic diversions instead.

6. Municipal Green Fleet

As part of Surrey’s green efforts, the City should, sometime in the next few years, begin to purchase and replace its vehicles with “greener” ones. These could be anything from hybrids, to electrics, to diesels, to smart cars. Major capital shouldn’t be put into this, however a strategy should be in place to gradually upgrade the municipal fleet to greener vehicles.