Metro Vancouver's $21-billion transit plan, which includes a gondola to SFU, approved

The plan also includes doubling bus service and adding 450 kilometres of new traffic-separated cycling paths.

A new gondola to Simon Fraser University, doubling the bus service, and hundreds of kilometres of new cycling paths are some of the transit plans approved by regional authorities on Thursday.
Metro Vancouver’s 10-year transportation plan was approved by the Mayors’ Council and TransLink’s board of directors and outlines a list of priorities.

Those priorities include nine new traffic-separated Bus Rapid Transit lines, extending the Millennium Line from Arbutus to the University of British Columbia, increasing HandyDart service by 60 per cent, and exploring other SkyTrain extensions, including to Newton in Surrey and to Port Coquitlam.

Also receiving a green light Thursday was a plan for 450 kilometres of new traffic-separated cycling paths, including bike networks in every Metro Vancouver Urban Centre, and 200 more bike lockers, according to a Metro Vancouver news release.

And Metro Vancouver will extend SeaBus service start and end times to match SkyTrain’s service hours.

The Transport 2050: 10-Year Priorities plan is estimated to cost $21 billion over the decade and will need significant new revenue sources and investments from all levels of government to deliver, according to Metro Vancouver.

The region said it will be delivered in phases and funded through a series of future investment plans.

Earlier this year, Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley said it would be challenging to get the proposed $200-million gondola built to Simon Fraser University because of a funding crunch.

Burnaby city council has endorsed a 2.6-kilometre route option for TransLink’s gondola proposal between the Production Way-University station and SFU.

The Transport 2050 plan is Metro Vancouver’s long-term vision to accommodate anticipated population growth of one million over the next three decades.