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Rapid bus now has Surrey stop

Local advocate helped speed the creation of a stop for the #555 into Vancouver.
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Daryl Dela Cruz stands at the new rapid bus stop at 156 Avenue and Highway 1.

The long-awaited access to a rapid bus to Vancouver is finally making a stop in Surrey.

When the new Port Mann Bridge was completed just over a year ago, the nearest access to the Vancouver-bound rapid bus was in Langley.

After lengthy lobbying, and much expense to Surrey development funds, the stop for the #555 bus is now complete.

The Surrey stop at the Highway 1 overpass at 156 Street opened on Tuesday, allowing locals access to the rapid bus connecting Langley to the Millennium line SkyTrain in Coquitlam, providing access to Brentwood Town Centre, SFU and Vancouver.

Surrey committed $193,000 in development cost charges to build the stop.

Coun. Tom Gill, who chairs the city's transportation committee, said the bus stop materialized thanks to the relentless campaign by 18-year-old Daryl Dela Cruz, who on his website, describes himself as a technology fan, a transit user, a researcher and a community issues advocate.

Gill describes him as a "outspoken, very smart, intelligent young man" who inundated Gill and the committee with well-argued facts supporting the need for the bus access.

"He has been non-stop for a year (pushing for the stop)," Gill said

Gill is upset that the city got hit with such a large bill. He said the stop should have been created when the Port Mann Bridge and Highway 1 improvements were done by the province.

Dela Cruz said it's great to see the stop put in place.

"I had a number of people helping me," Dela Cruz said Thursday. "People have been really enthusiastic about this stop, at least from the riders I've talked to."

In the future, there will be a bus exchange in the area, allowing people to better access the new stop by other transit.

Dela Cruz said the next item on his lobby list is challenging the current thinking on rapid transit.

The City of Surrey wants at-grade rail, while Dela Cruz said, for myriad reasons, SkyTrain makes more sense.

He is heading to Japan on a scholarship this month, but says he'll be keeping in touch with local issues by Internet.