^A few elections ago I remember seeing that South Surrey/White Rock was the third wealthiest electoral district after West Van and one in the Vancouver West Side (whichever one Shaughnessy is in I'm guessing).
White Rock/South Surrey has a lot of old people but the area has a lot of families too and there are many young people there as well as commuters, many of which do commute to downtown Vancouver as well as a host of other places in the Metro of course. I grew up in the area and my father has commuted to downtown for the last ~17 years. I've spent some time in the past commuting from there to downtown myself. I think improved bus connections like B-Lines and the improvements they're doing on Hwy 99 to Richmond are the sort of thing the area needs right now but long term it will definitely need something more substantial like Skytrain/LRT/Commuter Rail, especially if Surrey really does develop a real downtown core of its own.
The population of South Surrey is estimated by the City of Surrey to be about 75,000 currently. The City estimates that it will be the
fastest growing area of Surrey for the next two decades and it is estimated to reach 100,000 in less than 10 years from now. This doesn't even include the population of White Rock which is about 20,000. The combined population of
South Surrey/White Rock is currently 95,000, and according to City of Surrey projections will hit
100,000 in two years and 150,000+ by 2031.
Source:
http://www.surrey.ca/Doing+Business/...rojections.htm