The new R6 Scott Road RapidBus service was officially launched from Scott Road SkyTrain Station bound for Newton Exchange on Tuesday morning.
The RapidBus is expected to speed up public transit service by as many as eight minutes in both directions and brought to an end seemingly endless months of aggravating road construction and related congestion for commuters and businesses along Scott Road to accommodate the R6.
The service – with fewer stops and bigger buses – follows the 319 bus route, between Scott Road SkyTrain Station and 72 Avenue, where it heads east and crosses King George Boulevard to the Newton Exchange.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke catches a ride on the launch of the Scott Road R6 RapidBus on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/ZVUeSkGdVN
— Tom Zytaruk (@tomzytaruk) January 2, 2024
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TransLink says the R6 will be able to pick up to 20 per cent more riders on what it says is the busiest bus corridor south of the Fraser River, picking up more than 30,000 passengers every weekday and experiencing the strongest transit ridership growth in Metro Vancouver.
While the R6 officially launched on Jan. 2, it began operating on a holiday schedule on New Year’s Day. According to a press release, it’s TransLink’s sixth RapidBus service in Metro Vancouver, “with high frequencies, bus priority lanes, limited stops, all-door boarding, and articulated 60-foot buses.”
Representatives from TransLink, the provincial government, the City of Surrey and the City of Delta were at the launch.
Kevin Quinn, CEO of TransLink, said on an average weekday last year there were over 30,000 Compass card taps along Scott Road and 72 Avenue.
“That’s more than every other RapidBus in our region, besides the R4,” he said. “This express service will make room for 20 per cent more people.”
Dan Coulter, provincial minister of state for infrastructure and transit, noted Metro Vancouver is expecting 100,000 new residents in 2024-25.
“With many people finding their homes in Surrey and Delta, rapid transit options will become the backbone of our growing communities,” he said. “Reliable transit options like the R6 will help people arrive faster to their work, family and friends and shift from a dependence on cars.”
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said the R6 will bring “much needed relief” to the busiest bus corridor in the South Fraser.
“The R6 will make your day on transit faster and easier,” she said. “The larger buses on the R6 will reduce the overcrowding so you won’t have to worry about getting passed by a bus that’s full to capacity.
“Surrey has the distinction of having four out of five most crowded bus routes in all of this region,” Locke noted.
The R6 service is a harbinger of increased densification along the corridor.
“Increased transit service is critical to support continued growth and housing needs in Surrey,” Locke said. “So let’s keep on delivering the kind of new transit projects our residents need.”
Asked how densification will play out along the corridor with the R6 now running on Scott Road, Locke told the Now-Leader that the City of Surrey is densifying throughout Surrey and on this particular corridor “Surrey is doing a lot of densification all the way through and right from 96 (Avenue) all the way through. I can’t tell you what the new buildings are going to be looking like, but there’s certainly a lot of low-rise and townhouse development but we already know we have the population there.”
About the many months of traffic congestion along Scott Road to accommodate the R6, Locke said “it is the challenge of anything coming new. We face that any time we do any kind of construction. Like, you have to build, right, and this is part of the build. It’s very disruptive, there’s no doubt about it. But you know, I think they did a pretty good job.”
Surrey-Newton MLA Harry Bains, B.C.’s labour minister, noted this region has been neglected for too long.
“It is a clear message to everyone who lives in this part that Surrey is front and centre,” he said, “of government initiatives.”
“It requires infrastructure in a timely fashion and that’s what the government’s committed to, continue to work with the locals to make sure we deliver.”