Coast Mountain Bus Company route 502 'Langley Centre / Surrey Central Station'
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Service Area | Langley Surrey | |
Termini | Langley Centre Surrey Central Station | |
Operations | Surrey Transit Centre | |
Vehicles | NFI D40LFR NFI XD40 NFI XN40 | |
Branches | 502 Langley Centre 502 Surrey Central Station |
502 Langley Centre/Surrey Central Station is a bus route operated by Coast Mountain Bus Company in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Route Details
This is an east-west route connecting Langley Centre and Surrey Central Station running primarily on Fraser Highway. It is a Frequent Transit Network (FTN) route with service every 15 minutes or better for 15 hours or more of the day, seven days a week.
Eastbound trips depart Surrey Central Station heading south on City Parkway, west on 102 Avenue, south on University Drive, east on Old Yale Road becoming 100 Avenue, south on Whalley Boulevard, east on Fraser Highway, north on 203 Street, and east on Logan Avenue to Langley Centre.
Westbound trips depart Langley Centre heading east on Logan Avenue, south on Glover Road, west on Fraser Highway, north on King George Boulevard, west on 104 Avenue, and south on City Parkway to Surrey Central Station.
On Saturday mornings, some westbound trips start from Fraser Highway & 156 Street with no changes in routing.
Points of Interest
- Surrey Central Station (Bay 9)
- North Surrey Recreation Centre
- Central City Shopping Centre
- Surrey Public Library City Centre Branch
- Simon Fraser University – Surrey Campus
- King George Station (Bay 2 – Surrey Central Station) (Bay 3 – Langley Centre)
- King George Hub
- Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre
- Evergreen Mall
- Clayton Crossing Shopping Centre
- Willowbrook Mall
- Langley College
- Cascades Casino
- Langley Mall
- Langley City Hall
- Langley Centennial Library
- Langley Centre (Bay 3)
History
- July 1988 - Service introduced as 502 Fernridge/Brookswood/Langley Centre. Service ran every 30 minutes during peak hours and every hour during off-peak hours on the Brookswood branch. Fernridge service ran every two hours Monday–Saturday with no evening service. During peak hours, trips extended from Langley Centre to New Westminster Station[1]
- March 1990 - Peak hour trips revised to terminate at Scott Road Station instead of New Westminster Station[2]
- March 1994 - PM peak hour trips revised to go via Surrey Central Station following the completion of the SkyTrain extension to King George[3]
- April 1994 - Service revised to operate as 502 Fernridge/Brookswood/Surrey Central Station as the terminus is moved from Scott Road Station to Surrey Central Station
- September 1996 - Orion II models introduced to route under BC Transit's short-lived CUB (CommUnity Bus) program[4]
- September 1997 - Morning service revised to terminate at King George Station instead of Surrey Central[5]
- October 2001 - Midday and Saturday service reduced from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes due to low ridership and funding shortfall. Evening service daily after 8:00 p.m. also discontinued[6]
- December 2002 - Langley Community Shuttle service roll-out: Service revised to run as 502 Aldergrove/Brookswood/Langley Centre/Surrey Central Station
- Route restructured with Aldergrove service introduced, replacing the 506 Aldergrove/Langley Centre and the 511 Aldergrove/Langley Centre to provide more direct service and frequency to Aldergrove via Fraser Highway[7]
- Limited service via Salmon River is introduced, replacing the limited 511 trips via Salmon River
- Limited service to Fernridge is discontinued and significant portions of that service was replaced by the C63 Langley Centre/Fernridge
- All trips revised to go via Fraser Highway between 200th Street and 196A Street; service to Willowbrook Mall discontinued
- April 2003 - Route became bike rack equipped[8]
- September 2003 - Introduction of two nighttime Monday–Saturday trips to Aldergrove to allow for more travel options between Langley Centre and Aldergrove at night
- April 2005 - Last two westbound PM trips departing from Aldergrove revised to travel the full route to Surrey Central Station instead of terminating at Langley Centre
- December 2005 - Brookswood terminus moved from WB 40 Avenue FS 208 Street to SB 208 Street NS 40 Avenue to facilitate more efficient interlining with the 590. Introduction of earlier westbound weekday service with two trips from Langley Centre to Surrey Central at 6:10 and 6:25 a.m. Evening and late-night weekday service improved with the extension of operation hours to 12 a.m. leaving from Surrey Central running every 30 minutes
- June 2007 - Route joined the Frequent Transit Network (FTN)[9]
- September 2007 - BC Transit route 21 Aldergrove Connector begins operation, connecting with the 502 at its Aldergrove terminus.[10] This made the 502 the first TransLink bus route to connect with a BC Transit bus route
- April 2009 - Service to Aldergrove improved to half-hourly on all days[11]
- January 25–March 5, 2010 - Vancouver 2010 Olympic service: Eastbound trips rerouted near Surrey Central via 102 Avenue to King George Boulevard instead of 102, 134A, Old Yale Road due to the Surrey Celebration Site[12]
- June 2014 - Service revised to terminate at Langley Centre and operate as 502 Langley Centre/Brookswood/Surrey Central Station. Limited peak hour trips continued to extend to/from Brookswood. Service to Aldergrove replaced by the 503. Limited service via Salmon River (via 240th Street, 56th Avenue, and 248th Street) discontinued[13]
- September 2016 - Brookswood trips discontinued and service revised to operate as 502 Langley Centre/Surrey Central Station. Service between Langley Centre and Brookswood continued to be maintained by the C63 service and a reroute of the 531 on two early morning trips. 590 Langley Centre trips in the early morning also maintained temporary coverage until December 2016[14]
- April 2017 - Service extended to 2 a.m. Monday–Saturday.[15] Westbound trips re-routed from City Parkway to University Boulevard into Surrey Central Station
- April 2019 - Routing revised to return to City Parkway instead of University Boulevard at Surrey Central Station
- September 2019 - 503 Fraser Highway Express service adjustment: Due to the cancellation of the Fraser Highway B-Line, service frequency and resources were shifted to an improved and more frequent 503 service, allowing the passenger demand to shift towards the 503[16][17]
- January 2023 - First Saturday westbound trip advanced by five minutes from 5:45 a.m. to 5:40 a.m. and service increased from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes between 5:40–6:40 a.m.
- April 2023 - Sunday/holiday late-afternoon and evening service increased from every 15 minutes to every 12 minutes
- April 2024 - Introduction of westbound trips starting from Fraser Highway & 156 Street on Saturday early mornings to address overcrowding. Sunday/holiday evening service reduced from every 12 minutes to every 15 minutes
- September 2024 - Various service adjustments:
- Introduction of an additional weekday westbound trip starting from Fraser Highway & 156 Street at 4:39 a.m. to connect with the first SkyTrain departure at Surrey Central Station
- Early weekday morning service increased from every 15 minutes to every 12 minutes
- Eastbound weekday evening service increased from every 12 minutes to every 10 minutes
- Westbound routing near Surrey Central revised to go via regular route until King George Boulevard, west on 102 Avenue, and north on City Parkway instead of via King George Boulevard, west on 104 Avenue, and south on City Parkway as the terminus is moved from City Parkway to inside the bus loop to improve passenger experience and options by being paired next to the 503 Fraser Highway Express
- Initially, there was to be an introduction of 502 Fleetwood trips on select eastbound evening departures for buses returning to the depot to address overcrowding between Surrey Central and Fraser Highway & 156 Street. This was later cancelled and all 502 trips were revised to travel the full route instead
December 2002 Service Change
As part of the network realignment in Langley involving the introduction of Community Shuttle service to the area and the discontinuation of extremely poor-performing routes, the 502 was broken up from its previous formation of 502 Fernridge/Brookswood/Langley Centre/Surrey Central Station. As part of the change in December 2002, service to Aldergrove was introduced when the following routes merged with the 502:
The merger of the 506 and 511 with the 502 also resulted in the introduction of limited service through the Salmon River area. However, the 502 lost service to Fernridge as that branch was replaced by the C63 Langley Centre/Fernridge. These changes resulted in the 502 being renamed to 502 Surrey Central Station/Langley Centre/Aldergrove/Brookswood. Service to Aldergrove ran daily every hour, originally with no evening service. Service to Brookswood ran on weekdays only on select trips during peak hours. Service from Brookswood towards Surrey Central ran on select trips during AM peak hours only. Salmon River service initially ran once in the morning and in the afternoon Monday–Saturday in each direction.
Salmon River diversion
As part of the December 2002 service change, the 502 began operating limited trips through the Salmon River area, which was inherited from the 511 Aldergrove/Langley Centre. Salmon River service initially ran once in the morning and in the afternoon Monday–Saturday in each direction when this branch was introduced. The service initially operated as follows:
- Westbound trips: from Aldergrove as 502 Surrey Central Station via Salmon River
- Eastbound trips: from Surrey Central Station as 502 Aldergrove via Salmon River
Eastbound trips through Salmon River went via regular route from Surrey Central Station, then Fraser Highway, north on 248 Street, east on 56 Avenue, south on 240 Street, and east on Fraser Highway where it continued its regular eastbound routing. Westbound trips went via regular route from Aldergrove, then Fraser Highway, north on 240 Street, west on 56 Avenue, south on 240 Street, and west on Fraser Highway where it continued its regular westbound routing.
Salmon River service was discontinued in June 2014, permanently ending the limited transit service through Salmon River after 26 years which saw extremely low ridership. The June 2014 service change saw a restructure of the 502 to also discontinue Aldergrove service as it was replaced by the 503.
At the time when the Salmon River diversion was discontinued, it remained relatively unchanged from when it was introduced in 2002 and still operated on the Aldergrove–Surrey Central Station trips, running Monday–Saturday once in the morning and afternoon. However, by the time the trips were discontinued, there were two morning westbound Salmon River trips on weekdays.
References
- ↑ The Buzzer March 11, 1988 Issue translink.ca, retrieved 08-03-2017
- ↑ The Buzzer March 9, 1990 Issue translink.ca, retrieved 27-04-2020
- ↑ The Buzzer March 11, 1994 Issue translink.ca, retrieved 17-03-2021
- ↑ The Buzzer September 6, 1996 Issue translink.ca, retrieved 12-01-2017
- ↑ The Buzzer August 22, 1997 Issue translink.ca, retrieved 03-05-2020
- ↑ Service Cuts for October 15, 2001 listed by Route Number translink.ca, archived on Web Archive, retrieved 01-03-2021
- ↑ The Buzzer December 23, 2002 Issue, translink.ca, retrieved 18-01-2010
- ↑ The Buzzer April 18, 2003 Issue, translink.ca, retrieved 12-01-2017
- ↑ The Buzzer June 22, 2007 Issue, translink.ca, retrieved 19-01-2017
- ↑ New ValleyMAX Aldergrove - Abbotsford bus route starts Sept 4, translink.ca, retrieved 18-01-2010
- ↑ The Buzzer April 10, 2009 Issue, translink.ca, retrieved 24-05-2017
- ↑ February Bus Re-Routes And Additional Olympic Transit Services translink.ca, archived on Web Archive, retrieved 22-03-2021
- ↑ The Buzzer June 13, 2014, translink.ca, retrieved 27-06-2014
- ↑ The Buzzer August 19, 2016 Issue, translink.ca, retrieved 12/09/2016
- ↑ The Buzzer April 21, 2017 Issue, translink.ca, retrieved 24/05/2017
- ↑ The Buzzer August 23, 2019 Issue translink.ca, retrieved 09-01-2019
- ↑ B-Line Consultation Report September 2018 translink.ca, retrieved 25-09-2021