Residents of Surrey and Delta now have access to a new RapidBus route along the busiest bus corridor south of the Fraser River.
The R6 launched Tuesday runs between Scott Road Station and the Newton Exchange, providing space for 20 per cent more riders and speeding up travel time by up to 10 minutes.
“We’ve heard from our customers, Surrey and Delta needed better bus service,” said Coast Mountain Bus Company president Michael McDaniel at a press conference.
“However, we know we need to do more. Ridership through this region, especially out here in Surrey, is bursting at the seams.”
According to TransLink, more than 30,000 people rode the 319 — which currently serves the Scott Road Station to Newton Exchange route — each week day in 2023. That bus will continue to run alongside the new R6, which has fewer stops.
TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn said ridership south of the Fraser River has surpassed pre-pandemic levels by 16 per cent, and Surrey alone experienced up to 70 per cent more overcrowding in fall of 2023 than fall of 2019.
“That is where riders have been returning and growing faster than anywhere else in this region,” he said. “Bus service is now 22-per cent higher than it was in 2019.”
The $33-million R6 is billed as TransLink’s largest service expansion since 2020. It’s the sixth RapidBus service to operate in Metro Vancouver.
The bus will operate between 5 a.m. and 1 a.m. every day of the week, with 15-minute service or better all day.
During peak hours, TransLink says the R6 will arrive every 7.5 minutes and the 319 will arrive every 10 minutes.
Delta Coun. Rod Binder called the new service “transformative.”