The SkyTrain rapid transit system in Greater Vancouver, Canada, was conceived as a legacy project of Expo 86 and was finished in time to showcase the fair's theme: "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion – World in Touch". Construction was funded by the provincial and federal governments. Vancouver had plans as early as the 1950s to build a monorail system, with modernist architect Wells Coates pencilled in to design it; that project was abandoned. The lack of a rapid transit system was said to be the cause of traffic problems in the 1970s, and the municipal government could not fund the construction of such a system. During the same period, Urban Transportation Development Corporation, then an Ontario crown corporation, was developing a new rapid transit technology known as an "Intermediate Capacity Transit System". In 1980, the need for rapid transit was great, and Ontario needed buyers for its new technology. "Advanced Light Rapid Transit" was selected to be built in Vancouver to showcase the Ontario project at Expo 86.

Expo 86 and the Expo Line Construction of the original line began on March 1, 1982, under the Social Credit government of Bill Bennett, who inaugurated the system at Waterfront station. SkyTrain opened on December 11, 1985, with free weekend service, and entered full revenue service on January 3, 1986.Source: "On Track: The SkyTrain Story", by David Sproule, 1996.

Until 1989, the SkyTrain terminated at New Westminster station; in 1987, construction began on an extension including the Skybridge, Columbia station, and Scott Road station, extending the service to Surrey. The line was expanded yet again in 1994 with the opening of the Gateway, Surrey Central, and King George stations. SkyTrain was part of the 1996 Greater Vancouver Regional District's (GVRD) Livable Region Strategic Plan, which discussed strategies to deal with the anticipated increase of population in the region. These strategies included increasing transportation choices and transit use.

From 1989 to 1993, BC Transit had carried out an extensive analysis on rapid transit from Vancouver to Richmond. Close to a million dollars was spent by BC Transit carrying out engineering and cost estimates on various possible alignments. Routes in Vancouver such as Granville, Oak, Heather, Ontario and Main Street were all examined and eliminated. Recommended routes for the final assessment were the Cambie Street corridor and the Arbutus corridor. The final option selected was SkyTrain running along Cambie, but the Arbutus alignment was a strong contender from the point of view of cost and LRT technology. In about 1995, the provincial government changed its priorities, and announced a Broadway–Lougheed–New Westminster rapid transit route, with a future line to Coquitlam; this would be named the Millennium Line (with the original line from Waterfront to King George retroactively named the Expo Line). As part of that announcement, the Arbutus and Cambie Street corridors were shown as potential future rapid transit corridors from Vancouver to Richmond.

Expansion In 1997, negotiations began at the Greater Vancouver Regional District on transferring responsibility for SkyTrain from the province to the local governments after different visions emerged on how to cope with the growing region and the expansion line planned through the Lougheed area of Burnaby. In 1999, with the adoption of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Act (now the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Act), responsibility for SkyTrain, and ownership of SkyTrain's operating company, the British Columbia Rapid Transit Company, were transferred from BC Transit to the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, branded as TransLink. As part of the deal, the proponents agreed on a limited growth plan, with the province taking responsibility for expansion under the Crown corporation Rapid Transit Project 2000 (RTP 2000), and a cost-sharing scheme.

Transit expansion options for the rapidly growing region, which was outstripping TransLink's capacity, included streetcars, rapid buses, and light rapid transit, which were passed over in favour of new SkyTrain lines. RTP 2000 proposed a two-phase expansion: a $1.2-billion Millennium Line from New Westminster to Vancouver Community College via Lougheed Town Centre in Phase I; and a $73-million Coquitlam line from Lougheed Mall to Coquitlam Centre via Port Moody, and a Western Line from Vancouver Community College to Granville Street via the Broadway corridor, both to be completed before 2006, in Phase II.

The first section of the Millennium Line opened in 2002, with the addition of two stations, Braid and Sapperton. Most of the remaining portion began operating later that year, serving North Burnaby and East Vancouver. Phase I of the Millennium Line was completed $50 million under budget. Critics of the project dubbed it the "SkyTrain to Nowhere", claiming that the route of the new line was based on political concerns, not the needs of commuters. One illustration of the legitimacy of this complaint was that the end of the Millennium Line was located in a vacant field, originally chosen because it was supposed to be the location for a new high-tech development and was close to the head office of QLT Inc., but additional development was slow to materialize. That station, VCC–Clark near Clark Drive and Broadway, did not open until 2006 because of difficulty in negotiating the right-of-way from BNSF Railway, but it was still short of the original proposed Phase II terminus at Granville Street.

By 1998, plans for a line to Richmond resurfaced, including a spur to the Vancouver International Airport, in part to strengthen Vancouver's planned bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics.Skytrain line to Airport Proposed, Vancouver Sun, June 25, 1998, by Scott Simpson Equal shares of funding were obtained from the federal and provincial governments, as well as the airport authority.Bill C-49, Budget Implementation Act, 2001, Part 6,37th parliament, 1st session.TransLink annual report 2006, 2007 and 2008 The Richmond line contradicted TransLink's stated priority of building Phase II of the Millennium Line to Coquitlam, and TransLink's board twice rejected using the offered funding to build the line to Richmond, then narrowly approved it in a third vote in 2004.The Road Less Travelled, Translink's Improbable Journey from 1999 to 2008, Trevor Wales, 2008 The new line was named the Canada Line to acknowledge the federal government's contribution.

Canada Line The Canada Line was built as a public–private partnership, with the winning bidder, led by SNC-Lavalin (now known as ProTransBC), contributing funds toward its construction and operating it for 35 years. TransLink guaranteed ProTransBC a minimum ridership.Campbell's 'kaputski' on RAV line financing tops the list of keepers so far, Vaughn Palmer, The Vancouver Sun, Dec 3, 2004. p. A3 The Canada Line opened on August 17, 2009, 15 weeks ahead of schedule and on budget. Ridership rose three years ahead of forecasts, hitting 100,000 passengers per weekday in May 2010 and 110,000 passengers per weekday in February 2011. The Canada Line is operationally independent from the Expo and Millennium Lines and uses rolling stock that is incompatible with the other lines, but it is still considered to be part of the SkyTrain network.

Evergreen Extension The Evergreen Extension (previously known as the Evergreen Line and, prior to that, part of the Millennium Line Phase II project) is a extension of the Millennium Line. It extended the SkyTrain network from Lougheed Town Centre in Burnaby to Lafarge Lake–Douglas in Coquitlam, with the addition of six new stations and major upgrades to two existing stations (Commercial–Broadway station and Lougheed Town Centre). It opened on December 2, 2016.

Broadway Extension The Broadway Extension will extend the Millennium Line west from VCC–Clark station to a new terminus, Arbutus station. The $2.83-billion extension will be long, mainly underground, and feature five new stations. Major construction began in May 2021. It is expected to open in 2026.Broadway Subway Project reaches major construction phase

Surrey–Langley extension The $6-billion, Surrey–Langley extension was proposed in December 2018. It will extend the Expo Line east from King George Station to Langley City Centre station. Major construction started in November 2024; the extension includes 8 new stations. It is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2029.

Timeline of SkyTrain construction Project name Line(s) Opened Section Stations Length Cost/km(millions)Demonstration lineExpo Summer 1983Main Street stationTerminal Ave guideway 1 1 km N/AExpo Phase IExpo January 3, 1986Waterfront – New Westminster 15 20.4 km $82.66Expo Phase IIExpo February 14, 1989New Westminster – Columbia 2 2.9 km $101.72 March 16, 1990Columbia – Scott RoadSurrey ExtensionExpo March 28, 1994Scott Road – King George 3 4.4 km $57.03Millennium Phase IMillennium January 2, 2002Columbia – Braid 12 19.1 km $61.68 August 31, 2002Braid – Commercial Drive November 21, 2003Lake City Way station addedVCC–Clark ExtensionMillennium January 6, 2006Commercial Drive – VCC–Clark 1 0.8 kmCanada LineCanada August 17, 2009Waterfront – Richmond–BrighouseWaterfront – YVR–Airport 15 19.2 km $99.47Evergreen ExtensionMillenniumDecember 2, 2016Lougheed Town Centre – Lafarge Lake–Douglas610.9 km$128.44Capstan stationCanadaDecember 20, 2024Bridgeport – Aberdeen1N/A$62

Impact

The SkyTrain system has had a significant impact on the development of areas near stations and has helped to shape urban density in Metro Vancouver. Between 1991 and 2001, the population living within of a SkyTrain station increased by 37 per cent, compared to the regional average of 24 per cent. From the system's opening, the total population of the service area rose from 400,000 to 1.3 million people. According to BC Transit's document SkyTrain: A catalyst for development, more than $5 billion of private money had been invested within a 10–15 minute walking distance of the SkyTrain and SeaBus. The report claimed that those two modes of transportation were the driving force of the investment, though it did not disaggregate the general growth in that area.

According to Graham R. Crampton, SkyTrain and San Diego's trolley system were among the most successful transit systems in three areas: stimulation of growth in city centres; stimulation of growth in declining areas; and change in the pattern of urban development. Vancouver's system was particularly impressive, according to E. Babalik:

Larry Ward, former president and CEO of British Columbia Rapid Transit Corporation, told Goliath that public reaction to the Millennium Line was positive; customers enjoyed the spaciousness of the Mark II cars, the brighter station colours, and the general ambiance. When Broadway station opened in 1985, it caused disruption to business south of the station. In an effort to provide redress for the damage done, The Hub was created in 2003 when the adjacent Commercial Drive station opened. The Hub is a strip of retail businesses within Commercial Drive station, a transfer point between the Expo and Millennium lines. Almost 50,000 people pass through the intersection every business day.

The Canada Line was credited with spurring transit-oriented development in Richmond, where 40,000 residents live within of the line. The City of Richmond planned to add 80,000 more residents to its city centre by 2031, concentrated in five high-density neighbourhoods surrounding the city's Canada Line stations. The City of Vancouver has been slower to adopt a SkyTrain-related growth strategy: its Cambie Corridor Planning Program, which was to be completed by 2011, intended to produce a coordinated strategy for the entire corridor, as well as policies for what the city called "strategic sites".

Controversies

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