Saturday December 18, 2021 | GREATER VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends | Island Social Trends Traffic Page
BC Transit has some service changes coming up in response to changing demand. Yesterday’s announcement says the Victoria Regional Transit System changes come into effect January 3, 2022.
Good news for one section of the west shore region: a new route 64 will provide weekday service between East Sooke and Langford Exchange via Beecher Bay. That begins Tuesday January 4.
Other changes include:
1 South Oak Bay / Downtown and 22 Vic General/Hillside Centre routes will undergo routing changes to align with City of Victoria work on the AAA Cycling Network.
2 James Bay/south Oak Bay/Willows is being split into two separate routes: 2 South Oak Bay/James Bay and 5 Willows/James Bay. [Route 5 services the Willow Beach area. Route 2 is adjusted to serve the South Oak Bay section. Both routes share the same corridor between James Bay and Oak Bay Village. This change assist with trip planning and route understanding.]
Additional service is being added on the following routes to accommodate post-secondary ridership demand: 4 UVic/Downtown, 14 Vic General/UVic, 15 Esquimalt UVic, 26 Dockyard/UVic and 39 Westhills/Interurban/Royal Oak/UVic.
Service reliability improvements are being made on the following routes in response to current traffic conditions: 4 UVic/Downtown, 9 Royal Oak/UVic, 26 Dockyard/UVic, 39 Dockyard/Uvic, 50 Langford/Downtown, 51 Langford/UVic, 61 Sooke/Langford/Downtown, and 65 Sooke via Westhills.
Hiring more drivers:
BC Transit says it is “actively recruiting transit operators and working hard to hire more drivers”. They say they’re looking for people with strong customer service skills, who enjoy interacting with the public and supporting the community.
While the tight availability of driver is not explained in the release, in the past there have been issues of bus driver safety (due to passenger interaction) and of course exposure to the COVID virus during the ongoing pandemic.
Use the apps:
BC Transit says that transit-riding customers are encouraged to use NextRide and the Transit app for real-time bus tracking and additional trip planning resources.
More information on fares, BC Transit routes and schedules is available at bctransit.com/Victoria .
Longer term:
Back on June 30, BC Transit held an outdoor media announcement in Colwood during which there was some new information about speeding up the the West Shore/Downtown routes.
Those enhancements are expected to take place in stages, over approximately three years. Route 64 this week is somewhat part of that rollout.
In September of this year, BC Transit launched free transit service for children up to and including age 12.
BC Transit continues to encourage people to use public transit as an alternative to using their own vehicles, as part of adapting to climate change.
===== RELATED:
BC Transit gets backlash for no printed schedules in December (December 6, 2021)
BC Transit service improvement engagement in Cowichan Valley (October 29, 2021)
Free public transit for kids up to age 12 starts Sept 1 (August 9, 2021)
BC Transit service will run on Sept 30 on new national statutory holiday (August 6, 2021)
Fall service changes to Victoria Regional Transit System at Sept 7 in 2020 (August 24, 2020)
===== LINKS:
Island Social Trends Traffic Page (Drive BC webcams, scheduled traffic interruptions, BC Transit link)