Tri-Cities (British Columbia)

The Tri-Cities within the GVRD.

The Tri-Cities is an informal term used to describe three adjacent suburban cities (and two villages) in the north-east sector of Metro Vancouver in British Columbia. Combined, these five communities have a 2008 population of 211,418 residents:

Municipality	Type	Population
Anmore	village	2,122
Belcarra	village	688
Coquitlam	city	121,452
Port Coquitlam	city	55,583
Port Moody	city	31,573

Other terms

Local residents commonly refer to the Tri-Cities as "District 43," after the public school district that serves this area. This is to avoid confusion with other Tri-Cities, such as the Tri-Cities of south-eastern Washington state. The three Canadian city names are also often conflated into "PoCoMo."

Media

The Tri-Cities area has access to a wide variety of media available in the Lower Mainland. Several community newspapers provide local coverage, including the Coquitlam Now and the Tri-City News.

CKPM-FM in Port Moody will be the first radio station dedicated to the Tri-Cities area when it takes to the air in 2011.

Transportation

Roads

For motorists, the Trans-Canada Highway provides freeway access to Burnaby, Vancouver, Surrey, and other municipalities in the Lower Mainland. Lougheed Highway is an alternative route to the Trans-Canada, entering Coquitlam through Maillardville, past the Riverview Hospital area, up to Coquitlam Centre where it turns sharply east to Port Coquitlam and then into Pitt Meadows via the Pitt River Bridge. Barnet Highway begins at the Coquitlam Centre area and heads directly east through Port Moody and on to Burnaby and downtown Vancouver.

Public transit

Bus service in the Tri-Cities is provided by TransLink. The West Coast Express, which runs from Downtown Vancouver to Mission stops at Port Coquitlam Station, Coquitlam Central Station and Port Moody Station.

The Evergreen Line is a rapid transit line currently in the early process of construction. It is tentatively scheduled to open in 2016. It will run from Lougheed Town Centre in Burnaby through the southwestern part of Coquitlam into Port Moody and then into central Coquitlam where it will terminate at the Coquitlam Town Centre.