No.H054/11
For release - July 4, 2011
The Surrey Transit Centre officially opens today
SURREY, BRITISH COLUMBIA — The Surrey Transit Centre has been modernized and expanded to accommodate more buses in the future, giving families and the public more travel choices.
The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec; Dave S. Hayer, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Surrey-Tynehead; and Doug Kelsey, TransLink's chief operating officer, joined Coast Mountain Bus Company employees to officially open the expanded centre today.
"The Government of Canada is proud to support projects like this that improve public transit for Canadians," said Minister Lebel. "We are pleased to be partnering with the Government of British Columbia and TransLink to open this impressive new transit centre in Surrey. The new facility will allow Surrey to provide more effective public transit services to commuters."
"The province and its partners are helping communities throughout British Columbia expand and improve their public transit," said MLA Hayer. "A good transit system requires good infrastructure and this expanded centre will help ensure continued excellent transit services for the people of this busy and growing region."
"Improving the Surrey Transit Centre will help us grow and diversify service for communities south of the Fraser. It also reduces our environmental footprint," said Mr. Kelsey. "Thanks to senior government investment, we can provide sustainable options for getting around, run a more sustainable operation and make the region a better place to live."
The total cost of the upgrades project was $12.7 million. The Government of Canada's contribution of up to $2.1 million was provided through the Building Canada Fund. The Province of British Columbia contributed $2.5 million to this project through the Provincial Transit Plan, while TransLink contributed the balance.
The upgraded centre will provide additional parking for transit vehicles, new fuelling and maintenance bays for articulated buses, as well as a new bus washing facility with a state-of-the-art waste water treatment plant. This system will use remotely monitored, automated technology to effectively and reliably monitor and remove oil and grease from waste water. It also includes a water recycling system that reduces water consumption by up to 80 per cent. The new bus wash also saves time and allows buses to spend more time in service, rather than being washed.
Other improvements include replacing underground fuel storage with an above-ground system to greatly reduce the potential for future contamination at the site. In addition, the centre can now accommodate 300 buses, including 50 60-foot articulated buses that use new hybrid technology, and compressed natural gas buses. Before these improvements, the facility accommodated only 225 buses, including community shuttles and conventional 40-foot diesel buses.
The Surrey Transit Centre is one of seven operational transit centres in Metro Vancouver operated by Coast Mountain Bus Company, TransLink's bus operating company. Approximately 650 employees work at the centre in administration, operations and maintenance. In addition to providing transit service for communities south of the Fraser Valley, the centre also includes the Transit Communication Centre, which manages the day-to-day operations of the entire transit fleet in Metro Vancouver.
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