It can have a huge media splash, even mentioning that the previous successes led to rail rapid transit. I can’t see a B-Line through Surrey and out to White Rock being anything other than a huge success.

I will say that I disagree with labelling buses B-Line that are not rapid bus. You can’t simply change the 41. That bus stops at almost every block. Hardly a B-Line type service. B-Lines have to be in addition to local service. The 135 however is a great candidate for B-Line branding if the frequency is there. If it isn’t there now, it should be. More people along Hastings taking the B-Line, and leaving the local buses less busy for those folks who need them instead of being passed up. Sounds great to me!

This site of this Brickyard development was an industrial site and very well located as one or as a key distribution center for warehousing, logistics, etc. being at the corner of Highways 10 and 15.

Incidentally I think the City also recently allowed this same developer (Anthem) to rezone from industrial to townhouse on the edge of Fleetwood for a 160 unit townhome project.

The City doesn’t really care about industrial land and will take any development it seems, no matter if it is the best use or not of the land or the right thing to do in terms of urban planning – if the developer wants it, the City will give it to them.

I do think though that they could have did a better job in the actual commercial property projects in light of that. An example would be Fraser Highway and Venture Way. The new “strip mall” with the Starbuks that has been constructed. The sidewalk on that stretch is a good 10+ feet away from the highway with a median between . While it doesn’t have trees like your drawing does, I know from personal experience that it is much more comfortable to walk that stretch of sidewalk than it is any other stretch on the majority of Fraser Highway.

So that’s a case where I think Council could have did a better job. Forcing the design of the commercial to add that buffer themselves to the highway. When 152nd is widened straight through to Highway 99 and with the overpass being constructed now, that intersection is going to get doubly busy. Not to mention the pure density of Panorama. It really deserves a better feel. I think the neighborhood itself is quite amazing with the parks and winding streets though.

That’s an area where I think Clayton has done well. Even though it too has other problem areas, along Fraser Highway the sidewalk buffer right side east bound makes it much more comfortable to walk along such a busy stretch of road.

I think it could be a real asset for SFU Surrey as well, maybe the city could get some funding from other levels of government if it could becomes a joint asset with SFU (or even a long term lease giving SFU a certain amount of access).

An excerpt from the Vancouver blog post:

“Birdshit architecture”

Gehl recounted his first experience with Dubai. Wandering around, the buildings began to remind him of his wife’s perfume shelf. Just as the designers of his wife’s perfume bottles competed for attention with distinct and seductive shapes, so did the architects of Dubai’s buildings. Complete indulgence of form, with no interest in function and day to day use. He coined “birdshit architecture” to describe this process of premium architects being flown in to drop their buildings onto a city with no regard for their impact on public life.

Scale, people

This is Gehl’s primary thesis: the design of cities has lost touch with the human scale. Renderings may be littered with depictions of “unspecified public life” – scale people – but they are rarely grounded in reality. They are ornamental. Form comes first; a building at eye level is an after thought. As Gehl wisely reminds us, “units are getting bigger and bigger – but people are still slow and small.” And this demands a new approach.

I completely agree with your point that the city needs to plan to be transit-friendly at the outset, and not build the service after the population meets a certain threshold. I mean, Kevin Costner didn’t do it that way in Field of Dreams right? He built it, and then they came.

I recently watched a documentary called Urbanized, maybe you have heard of it? Basically it’s about the design of cities, and in one segment it showcased the transit system in Bogota, Colombia. There they have a bus system that operates like a subway system; “stations” are built as raised platforms, the buses are equal to or longer than our B-line buses here, and they have priority on roads, so cars are relegated to an entirely separate set of lanes. And to promote cycling, they prioritized building paved cycling lanes across the city, while cars had to drive on dirt roads in developing areas of the city.

Until now, most of Surrey has been a city built for cars. If we want to encourage transit use, we need to completely change our way of thinking and approaching the issue of moving people around. There a successful examples everywhere, we just need to start looking.

Thank you for your insightful article.