Fall service changes: Rebecca rides the 555 Port Mann Express to 156th Street
Fall service changes: Rebecca rides the 555 Port Mann Express to 156th Street
The fall service changes began on September 1 and a new stop at 156th Street and Highway 1 in Surrey has been added to the 555 Braid Station/Carvolth Exchange route. Customers travelling to Braid Station now have an EXPRESS service to the SkyTrain.
Rebecca L., a BCIT student, was waiting for the 555 at Braid Station when I caught up with her. She tells me it was her first time riding the route.
On a typical day, she would take the 337 to Surrey Central Station from her home in Fraser Heights, transfer to the Expo Line to Metrotown Station, then hop on the 130 to BCIT. Rebecca estimates this takes her about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.
With the help of our Trip Planner and Google Maps, she decided to try the improved 555 service since the new 156th Street stop is close to her home. She took the 25 bus to Brentwood Station from BCIT and rode the Millennium Line to Braid Station to connect with the 555.
“I just want to try it out to see what it’s like,” she says. “I think it will be faster since this bus only takes nine minutes to get to 156th Street.”
If her tweet is any indication, she enjoyed her fast ride on board our super comfy highway coach!
First #555 experience over the Port Mann Bridge stopping at 156th street. So far so good! @TransLink pic.twitter.com/C8ePy5Pb9i
— R (@LoveLifeka) September 4, 2014
The 555 service operates seven days a week, with trips every 10 minutes during the AM & PM peak periods. For more details, here’s the route map and schedule.
TransLink undertakes a round of service changes four times a year in April, June, September, and December. These changes improve schedules and routes, ensuring a reliable, efficient and safe transit service to help get you where you need to go.
How do I access the stop?
- Walking along 156th Street
- Connecting to/from routes 337 Fraser heights/Surrey Central Station or 509 Surrey Central Station/Walnut Grove, which stop at the same intersection as the new 555 bus stop.
- Connecting to/from routes 326 Surrey Central Station/Guildford, 335 Newton Exchange, 501 Surrey Central Station, or 590 Surrey Central Station/ Langley South, located five minutes away on 104th Avenue.
Author: Allen Tung
@ Allen
Thanks for this announcement.
I noticed that you listed the connecting routes, as well. Thanks for that. Please do that with other announcements.
Who funded the building of the bus stop?
Hi Eugene. Great to hear that you find it useful! We’ll be sure to do this moving forward. Most bus stops in the region are built and maintained by the municipalities they are located in and the 156th Street stop for the 555 is no different. It was made possible through collaboration between TransLink, the City of Surrey, and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
@ Allen
Yeah, it was more useful than I realized, because I never considered using any of the trip planning things on this site or Google. When you listed some routes as a 5 minute walk to connect, it gave me food for thought. Maybe I need to use those trip planners every time I see a good bus stop.
Regarding the bus stop, I can’t help but wonder what went into the decision. It seemed so impossible to get done, before, but now it just magically appeared. It almost encourages apathy, because citizen participation seemed to have nothing to do with it.
I looked at a map, and unfortunately the route will be of no use to me, because I would have to go out of my way to use the #555. It would be faster for me to take SkyTrain across the water, because of where I live.
It would be a fun ride, though, so maybe I will try it for fun, one day.
@ Everybody and Translink
I hate to sound ungrateful, but I wonder if another set of bus stops on the other side of the water would help. Maybe at Lougheed Hwy? It makes sense to me, because if there are on-ramps and off-ramps for cars, then there would have to be transit riders that would need to connect.
@ Eugene
You never thought of using TransLink’s or Google’s trip planner?!?
I also always wondered why there was a bus that only had two stops – at the start and end of the trip. While the new Surrey stop is long overdue, I don’t know of a need for a stop at Lougheed Hwy – the 169 is already there. Also the Northeast Sector Area Transit Plan showed a bus travelling down from Coquitlam Center and across the Port Mann to Surrey too (not sure of the end of that future route).
You just have to remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. A lot of the ideas I suggested for Coquitlam are very similar to the plans they showed. Now if only TransLink would do the same for some of the other route changes I’ve suggested…
Maybe this will give you some hope
http://www.surreyleader.com/news/274123731.html
@ Sheba
:^) That is correct. I never thought of it, because I’m just not used to trusting it. Sometimes the trip planning software gives a very round about trip. I prefer to go to the PDFs, and Google Maps, and Translink’s list of bus stops [which is seen, when looking at the route]. I have rarely ever gone wrong.
I can’t remember how, but I did find out once that the trip planning software found a better route. It was really cool. It was like finding a portal at your home, that would take you to work in an instant.
The stop is necessary at the north end of the bridge, because people, who travel from the south east, might want to go to the north east, instead of travelling all the way to Sky Train, just to travel to the north east. To see what I’m saying, just try to prevent all drivers from going north east, after getting off of the bridge.
As a policy, every bridge and tunnel should have a set of bus stops at each end of the bridge.
For example, should all #555 riders be forced to go to SkyTrain, just to go to Coquitlam Mall? No. They should be able to transfer to the #169.
Wow! That article is great news.
I’m glad that you shared it, because I almost took some credit for it. I spoke with a couple of councilors, he has been doing this for a year.
On a sad note: a bus stop on the north end would be Coquitlam’s responsibility [or whatever city; too lazy to check right now].
@ Eugene
You can claim some credit – because you added your voice. When one person keeps bringing up a suggestion, it can be brushed off. But when other people bring up similar suggestions, it gets attention.