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Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG

Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner is once again defending her city’s decision to build light rail instead of SkyTrain when rapid transit is expanded in the coming years.

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Hepner made the case for light rail during a speech at a Surrey Board of Trade luncheon, where she and TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond talked about the future of transit South of the Fraser.

A 10-kilometre, 11-stop, light-rail line connecting Surrey’s SkyTrain stations to Newton and Guildford is part of the second phase of the Mayors’ 10-Year Vision for transportation in the region, with a 16-km, eight-stop extension to downtown Langley five years after the first line is complete.

“Cities in Canada and around the globe have chosen light rail for its impact on city-shaping and people-moving,” Hepner told the business crowd. “In Surrey, we can’t do that with bus rapid transit … and we can’t do it with SkyTrain.”

She argued that with the growth that’s expected in Surrey over the next 25 or so years — at least 250,000 more people by 2041 — bus rapid transit won’t be able to handle the capacity, nor will the city’s roads be able to accommodate the cars.