Surrey candidates talk transit at Citizen/Movement town hall event

Dozens of community members visited the Surrey City Centre Library on Oct. 8 to hear municipal candidates discuss the future of transit in Surrey in a town hall event organized by the Citizen and Movement. 

Surrey’s transit ridership grew by 11 per cent in 2024 — one of the highest jumps in the region. But only 27 per cent of residents have access to frequent transit, in comparison to 90 per cent of Vancouver residents. While Surrey definitely uses public transit, there are currently a lot of gaps in routes the city needs to address. 

Candidates from five of the seven parties attended — Surrey Connect and the Surrey Conservative Party were absent.

Despite agreement on other questions, candidates had different answers on what type of transit they would prioritize first, if elected. 

Surrey First candidate for councillor Jasroop Gosal explained the party’s commitment to build light rail transit through the most crowded corridors in the city like South Surrey, Newton and Guildford. 

“We can’t afford to build one large project every 10 years. We need to be building out our Transit Network every single year,” said Gosal. “We want to make sure that we are building complete communities.”

Doug McCallum — the mayoral candidate for Surrey Safe Coalition — is promising a SkyTrain to Newton. 

Both Imagine Surrey’s mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk and Surrey Now’s council candidate Werner Spangehl said their parties were committed to expanding bus rapid transit. 

New Surrey+ mayoral candidate Igal Ammons II wants to build what he calls ‘the link,’ which would be an expansion of the highway that would add two additional lanes on each side. 

However, all candidates did agree that the environment around stops along transit routes need to be properly planned. Gosal noted tree canopies can be used to keep areas cool and Starchuk said he wants to ensure stops have public bathrooms and bus shelters. 

“Far too much emphasis has been put on the route and the type of transportation and the public’s actually been forgotten,” said McCallum. 

Currently, TransLink’s adult monthly three-zone pass is $211.65 — Starchuk is promising a special Surrey pass of $70 a month. He plans to do this by buying passes in bulk from TransLink to be able to receive a discount. A strategy that places like Victoria already do. 

“It won’t matter that there are some of these passes that aren’t being used. In the overall scheme of things, the savings are there … we pass [those] savings on directly to the bus users,” he said. 

When asked whether he would lower speed limits anywhere in the city to tackle Surrey’s rate of injuries and fatalities on roads, Ammons II said no. 

“No matter how much you lower it, someone will still try to [break the law],” Ammons II argued. He proposed that if someone is ticketed for speeding and if they are able to keep a clean driving record for the rest of the year, then they could have their fine reimbursed. 

Spangehl tackled how the party would make more affordable housing close to transit. He said the party wants to implement a rent-to-own program, which could help people purchase a house without needing a large down payment up-front.  

Rent-to-own programs allow people to enter a contract where part of their rent goes towards a down payment on the property — when the contract ends, the renter has the option to buy out the property and own it.

On how candidates would make other transit options more practical than driving, Gosal, Starchuk and Spangehl all concurred that building out sidewalk infrastructure and safe cycling lanes are essential to this. 

Spangehl also noted wanting the city to look into ensuring people are wearing the correct safety equipment, especially as e-scooters and e-bikes become more popular. 

The looming question when it comes to transit is always how the city plans to fund their ideas and each candidate brought forth a different approach. 

Big projects like SkyTrain, BRT and LRT are usually funded by the city, province and federal government each providing a third of the budget. Bus lanes, shelters and sidewalks are often the city’s sole responsibility. 

With Surrey being one of the largest cities in the country, the government receives a lot of tax revenue from residents and McCallum argues more of that money from the province and federal government needs to be reinvested into Surrey. 

Surrey First wants to hire an auditor general to weed out any wasteful spending within city hall and use that money for transit, said Gosal. Notably, the city does currently use an external auditor. 

Starchuk said the city needs to regularly meet with MLAs to ensure the province understands where Surrey needs support — he added he would also not spend money on projects like a new arena. 

In contrast, Ammons II said he will not be asking the federal or provincial government for money, but instead would rely on a city ‘trust fund’ that would be funded from the rent collected from the city housing his party is also proposing on building.  

Spangehl said Surrey Now would have city departments start at a $0 budget every four years — meaning that departments would have to justify each and every cost to pinpoint any unnecessary spending. 

“If we can start getting some accurate budgeting done … there will be money that will be found,” said Spangehl.