As a strong supporter of public and active transportation, I really appreciated your recent articles on better travel options in the Comox Valley Record. My experiences of public transit in our region have not been great: a one hour trip to get from Comox to Courtenay and an hour long wait in the snow on the highway, trying to get to an appointment in Campbell River from Comox. I now have an electric bike which helps me keep driving time to a minimum. I would try using it to get to Campbell River if there was a safe car free path.
The biggest loss in the recent past on Vancouver Island, is the departure of private inter-regional bus service which was direct, regular and reasonably priced.
As I age, I would prefer to take public Transit to Nanaimo or Victoria. Some semblance of what was once available has now been attempted by BC Transit. But looking at the BC Transit website, it would take me 8 hours and 20 minutes and seven different buses to get to Victoria. There are also private mini buses which are quicker, but cost $60-80 one way, much more expensive than driving and doesn鈥檛 load the bike I need to get to the bus and to get around at the other end. Neither service seems likely to entice people from driving or even provide a basic service for the 40 per cent of residents, many of them elderly, who don鈥檛 or can鈥檛 drive or don鈥檛 own a car.
Did you know that there are groups advocating for car free travel options on Vancouver Island? A group called Better Island Transit (BIT) () is led by Transportation Consultant Todd Litman. There is also a group advocating for bring the old unused E+N rail corridor back into use as an inter-regional bike and active transportation trail, Friends of Rails to Trails Vancouver Island, FORT-VI chaired by former BC Transit Director Alastair Craighead (). Communities between Victoria and Courtenay have average distance between them of less than 10km, easy on an electric bike and a magnet for low impact tourism!
Part of the inter-regional bus problem is the Provincial funding formula. Each region has to contribute about 30 per cent of the cost to run out of region service; so the motivation isn鈥檛 great to provide that service. The following illustrates the problem: there are 43 daily return bus trips between Victoria and Sooke but only four between Victoria and Duncan, in the Cowichan Region, which has a larger population than Sooke. The difference is because Sooke is IN the Capital Region which has a large enough tax base to support the service. And Regional Districts like Cowichan and Comox don鈥檛; so unless the provincial funding formula changes, it is difficult to envision better public transit between our communities that is affordable.
Good public transportation options require public funding linked to better land use planning by municipalities The public subsidy to roads mostly benefits car owners. Maybe it鈥檚 time to look at a fairer balance for the 40 per cent who don鈥檛 drive and for those who do, but want to drive less.
Sincerely,
Denise Savoie - director of FORT-VI and member of BIT
Comox
Alastair Craighead
Chair - Friends of Rails to Trail - Vancouver Island and member of BIT
Victoria
