SURREY (NEWS 1130) – The BC NDP says it is on board with a proposal to beef up transit in Surrey.

The plan would see a rapid development for moving people south of the Fraser and promises 43,000 jobs.

John Horgan says the party is on board with a proposal from Surrey’s Mayor for a regional transportation plan.

He believes Surrey’s needs have been forgotten by the BC Liberals.

“It’s the right thing to do. It has to be done. The time is now. The BC Liberals have wasted the past three years, when they could have been investing in Surrey, investing in people and investing in jobs.”

However, he still remains non-committal when it comes to SkyTrain Services saying the current plan only involves LRT.

“I’m prepared to sit down with the mayor’s council and work on whether a SkyTrain is a better option going forward. What we want to do is make sure that we get the city the resources that it deserves so that it can meet the growing demands of an exploding population.”

He says everyone south of the Fraser should get the same transit benefits that someone in Vancouver has.

Minister for TransLink, Peter Fassbender, calls the NDP’s accusations rhetoric without substance, and adds the BC Liberals have done plenty for transportation and transit around the province.

“All you need to do is look at the Port Mann Bridge, the South Perimeter Road the investments in transit that we made recently of a quarter of a billion dollars.”

He says if the BC Liberals are re-elected they will put more money into transit funding, which will include LRT in Surrey and the extension of RapidBus service down Fraser Highway into Langley.