From Burquitlam to Lafarge, the views of the Tri-Cities were "spectacular" as a hushed Mark II SkyTrain car loaded with transportation VIPs whizzed along the Evergreen Line Tuesday morning.
And while everyone from Minister of Transportation Peter Fassbender to TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond, SkyTrain boss Vivienne King and Evergreen project head Amanda Farrell were on board, none were able to cough up an official opening date for the long-awaited rapid transit line.
Port Moody-Coquitlam MLA Linda Reimer hinted that it will be another month before officials would be able to close in on a specific date, while Fassbender opted for "it's coming soon, it's going to be before Christmas. It's our Christmas present to the people of the region."
And the $1.43-billion price tag for that gift will remain so, Fassbender confirmed, despite months of delays in 2015 due to tunnelling issues.
"It's a fixed-price contract," he said. "There will be no cost overages to the taxpayers."
What is known — and what is clearly visible from the vantage point of being on the Evergreen Line — is the amount of change that its construction has ushered in throughout the Tri-Cities.
From the ongoing overhaul of Burquitlam to the potential of Moody Centre, the northward curve at Coquitlam Central Station — with a tiny portion of eastbound track waiting to extend to Port Coquitlam and Ridge Meadows — and the towers of Town Centre, the Evergreen Line will continue to serve as a catalyst for growth and development for decades to come.
"To actually travel along something that we've watched come out of the ground and see the development was amazing," Fassbender said. "This is the beginning of, I think, a huge growth opportunity for these communities and for the entire region."
And in an echo of September's U.S. presidential election debate, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said he'd been waiting for Evergreen "for all of my adult life," adding he was "ecstatic" to see the trains being tested.
Ridership along the 11-km line (with its curves, hills and steep descent into a two-minute-long tunnel, the Evergreen can feel a bit like a roller coaster) between Coquitlam and Burnaby is expected to reach 70,000 riders daily by 2020, but with only 650 parking spots among the six stations TransLink's Desmond said transit improvements are needed to get people to those stations without their vehicles.
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