At the November 6th Langley Township Council Meeting, Mayor and Council approved a motion calling on Translink to finally bring transit service to the Gloucester area in northeastern Langley, or forgo the millions in property taxes and levies charged to the businesses in the area.

The Langley Chamber is welcoming this advocacy by the Township of Langley, and is again calling on Translink to engage with the business community to finally provide real, reliable bus service to the Gloucester business district.

Transit and transportation service to Gloucester has been a key advocacy issue for the Langley Chamber for years, with over 12,000 employees and about 200 businesses having no access whatsoever to bus or transit service.   Businesses in the area report persistent challenges recruiting and retaining employees, as having a personal vehicle is a defacto requirement to work in the area due to the lack of service.  Workers who rely on transit are, in effect, excluded from these employment opportunities.

The Langley Chamber continues to believe it is unaccepted for Translink to ignore Langley and the thousands of workers and businesses in the Gloucester area, particularly when the businesses have been paying Translink property taxes for years with no service at all in return.

Over the past year, the Langley Chamber has met personally with Translink CEO Kevin Quinn to push this issue, has led regional advocacy to speed-up the Highway 1 expansion (including a transit hub in Gloucester), and has worked with Translink to bring a private shuttle operator to the area.

With plans for Gloucester to continue to grow and expand, the Langley Chamber is again calling on Translink to finally provide regular bus service to connect the area to the broader transportation network.

Gloucester represents a key hub of employment for Langley and is a vital supply of industrial lands which are critically limited in our region.  The economic potential of Gloucester has been undercut by this lack of transit service, and the Langley Chamber believes the businesses and workers in this area deserve better.

Responses from a recent Chamber survey of Gloucester businesses:

“We have had many people apply and be selected for an interview only to realize after that they cannot accept an interview as there is no transit.”
 
“We recently went through a round of hiring, 2 qualified candidates backed out after they realized there was no public transport in this area”

“We lose about 50% of applicants on initial screening upon knowing about our exact location and transit inaccessibility. “
 
“The closes bus stop is 47 mins walk which is 100% unwalkable as it is a highway, or a $25 taxi ride”

Read about this in the Langley Advance: