The President of the University of British Columbia, Santa Ono, has acknowledged that the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s funding and approval has played a pivotal role in the university’s decision to develop a new UBC campus in downtown Surrey.

The first new campus buildings will be located steps away from the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s future terminus at King George Station, at a site that has been purchased by the UBC Properties Trust in a $70 million deal and is adjacent to Fraser Highway. President Santa Ono noted, while speaking to the Surrey Now-Leader, that the expansion of SkyTrain from Surrey into Langley is “a part of what makes that location very attractive.”

This is a major development that not only exemplifies the need to complete the full Surrey-Langley SkyTrain as soon as possible, but also the ridership that we can come to expect on it—as a UBC campus along the SLS will almost certainly be a major generator of transit ridership. A UBC campus will be only a 22-minute SkyTrain ride from downtown Langley City, and will be within commuting distance of other cities in the Fraser Valley.

If the first UBC campus buildings are completed before the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s projected opening date in the year 2028, thousands of new transit riders who locate along the SLS corridor will be left without a reliable, quality connection to their new university campus facilities. As such it is imperative that involved parties minimize delays and take steps to expedite the SLS delivery process so that it is built as soon as possible.

All in all, four university campuses will be easily accessible from SkyTrain stations in Surrey and Langley, including UBC and SFU campuses in downtown Surrey, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) in both downtown Surrey and in Langley City. In addition to these campuses, Surrey-Langley SkyTrain riders will have high-quality access to the region’s other university campuses through SLS’s seamless connection to existing SkyTrain.

This unparalleled access for university students, combined with the plans to locate hundreds of thousands of new residents along the SLS/Fraser Highway corridor, are sure to make the SLS a runaway hit when it comes to future transit ridership.