UBC student union calls for more details on long-awaited SkyTrain extension

It all starts with a bus ride. It takes about 45 minutes in light traffic on the 99 B-Line from Commercial Drive to reach the University of British Columbia’s campus on the western tip of Metro Vancouver.

It’s a familiar route for the thousands who take the 99 bus to and from campus every day. Much of the ride is filled with reminders of the future — the Broadway SkyTrain (or the Millennium Line extension if you’re persnickety) is currently under construction between Clark and Arbutus streets to service the over 10.5 million passengers who rode the 99 in 2024. It’s far and away the busiest bus route in the region, serving one of the busiest transit corridors in North America. 

The new SkyTrain line will connect neighbourhoods like Grandview-Woodland, Mount Pleasant, and Fairview, while reducing congestion and travel times. However, it’s only a half-measure for anyone going to UBC or anywhere else west of Arbutus. 

“We want to see the full benefit that you can get from a SkyTrain extension,” rather than the current project that will concentrate westward commuters at Arbutus, Solomon Yi-Kieran told Vancity Lookout.

Yi-Kieran, Vice President of External Affairs for UBC’s AMS Student Society, led an on-campus rally this week in support of the extension, hoping it would spur governments to action. 

Yi-Kieran said a SkyTrain all the way to UBC could cut round-trip commute times by 30 minutes for Vancouverites and as much as an hour for commuters in further parts of Metro Vancouver, while eliminating the frequent ‘pass-ups’ at peak hours due to full buses. The current extension to Arbutus is expected to deliver roughly half those reductions in commute time to UBC. 

A train line to campus would also allow more people to take transit rather than drive, increasing affordability by eliminating fuel, insurance, and parking costs, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, about half of the daily trips to UBC are made by car, Yi-Kieran said.

The SkyTrain extension to UBC, or UBCx as it’s known, was promised by the province in 2008. The project has been endorsed by Vancouver city council, is listed as a priority in TransLink’s ten-year plan (2022-2032), and was included as a priority in provincial Transportation and Transit Minister Mike Farnworth’s mandate letter in early 2025.

However, there’s been little visible movement on the project over the past 17 years, despite all that support and affirmation from the various stakeholders. The long delays led Yi-Kieran and the AMS to publicly demand action. 

Yi-Kieran, a third-year History student who plans to become a high school teacher, referenced the Great Trek as inspiration for today’s student-led campaign. A century ago, UBC students were fed up with the decade of government delay in building the new campus in Point Grey during and following World War I. In 1922, the AMS organized and led a massive campaign and march from UBC’s inadequate facility in Fairview to the nascent campus on the west side. Within weeks of the march, the province announced funding to proceed with construction and by 1925, the new campus was open for classes. 

Back to the present, and the UBC campus has become a small city unto itself. On an overcast mid-day in early October, only about 100 or so people gathered in front of the towering new student union building. 

While the rally didn’t draw the attendance of the Great Trek, a petition started by AMS has received over 14,000 signatures, Yi-Kieran said. It was also clear that the rally caught the attention and support of today’s leaders.

UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon spoke briefly at the rally, expressing support for the SkyTrain extension. Benoit said the current leaders of the local, provincial, and federal governments are all supportive of the extension project. “We just need the political will to make it a priority,” Benoit said.

Leaving the event flanked by campus security, Bacon told Vancity Lookout that UBC is collaborating with the province on the business case for the project, which is now in its second phase. Bacon said he’s hoping the business case will be completed by the end of this year. 

The federal government contributed $14 million to fund that business case, with the agreement expiring at the end of March 2026. Publicly releasing the business case for the project is seen as the next major step, which the AMS, UBC’s student society, and city councillors are calling for. 

Premier David Eby, who lives in UBC and represents the area directly as the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, also expressed support for the project in a statement about the AMS rally. 

“The province is committed to investing in transit and transportation projects [including] the UBC Extension that is in the planning stage. We recognize the potential that the UBC Extension has for improving the quality of life for the commuters who would use it,” Eby said, adding the province will continue to advance the planning work with the federal and local governments, TransLink, First Nations, and UBC. 

City councillors Lucy Maloney of OneCity and Sean Orr of COPE also spoke at the event, introducing their upcoming motion at City Hall that, if successful, would direct Mayor Ken Sim to write to federal and provincial leaders to advocate for progress on UBCx, including releasing the business case and committing to timelines and funding for the project. 

“It's really disappointing that we're stopping at Arbutus, and it's going to have a big effect on the students that have to disembark at Arbutus and wait around and catch a bus,” Maloney told Vancity Lookout. Once completed, Maloney said an estimated 4,000 UBC commuters will get off at the Broadway SkyTrain’s Arbutus station daily and need a bus to get to campus. 

“There are many variables that will impact ridership forecasts between now and when the extension opens. Ridership projections will be refined closer to the Broadway Subway opening, which will help us determine service levels for the 99 B-Line,” a TransLink spokesperson told Vancity Lookout in a statement when asked about service at the Arbutus station. 

The 99 B-Line will continue operating between Arbutus and UBC once the Broadway SkyTrain opens, according to TransLink. After several delays, the line is now scheduled for completion in 2027. 

The Jericho Lands project in Point Grey is another key factor in planning UBCx. Jericho Lands, led by a consortium of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, would have a station within the 90-acre development and another just off-site at Alma Street. With plans for 13,000 new homes and an objective for 80 per cent of the trips from the community made by sustainable modes of transportation, the UBC extension is “integral” to meeting those goals, according to the city.

The UBC extension is “such a no-brainer,” Denis Agar with the transit advocacy group Movement told Vancity Lookout. “The top four routes in Metro Vancouver go to UBC, and they are constantly overcrowded,” Agar said. 

The R4, 99, 49, and 25 are far and away the most used routes in Vancouver, accounting for over 34 million boardings in 2024, according to TransLink data. 

“The SkyTrain would drastically reduce how busy other key transit corridors [like the 25, 49, and R4 bus routes] are,” Yi-Kieran said, freeing up room for non-UBC transit riders in south and east Vancouver. That’s because UBC-bound commuters from South Burnaby, New West and Surrey could take the Expo Line to Commercial-Broadway rather than transferring onto buses at Joyce-Collingwood or Nanaimo stations. The R4, not the 99, was, on average, the most heavily used weekday bus route out of UBC in 2023, according to TransLink. 

“It's just long overdue, and I feel like nobody needs to be convinced of this anymore,” Agar said, pointing to a widespread appetite for transit. Agar cited a recent Canada-wide poll that found 81 per cent support for more federal investment in public transit systems to address climate change.

A 2021 TransLink survey found that, out of over 15,000 respondents, 92 per cent supported the train extension to UBC, according to Urbanized.

With seemingly everyone on board, the UBC SkyTrain extension seems to be more a matter of when, not if. Once funding is secured, the project will take about seven to nine years to complete, according to the city. But for students, faculty, staff, and residents, the train can’t arrive soon enough.