The cost of a one-way trip on the Nanaimo-Cowichan express bus (NCX) could drop from $7.50 to $5 as of April 1.

The Cowichan Valley Regional District鈥檚 committee of the whole recommended the reduction of the fares for the NCX to the board at its meeting on Nov. 13 after a presentation by B.C. Transit and transit officials with the district.

B.C. Transit, the Regional District of Nanaimo and the CVRD launched the NCX service at the end of March, 2022.

At the time the service was established, some CVRD directors expressed concern the fares were too high, and recommended that staff monitor for feedback and possible effect on ridership.

According to a staff report, the general feedback from riders has indicated a preference to reduce the fares on the NCX, and the RDN has indicated affordability and access to the service be prioritized over cost recovery.

The RDN will be considering the fare reduction for the NCX later in November.

BC Transit is also recommending the NCX fare drop to $5, which is the same as the fare on the Fraser Valley express bus.

The fares for the two other commuter transit services in the region, the Cowichan-Victoria express (CVX) and the Shawnigan Lake -Victoria express (SVX) routes would remain at $10 if the CVRD鈥檚 board passes the recommendations from the committee, and the fares for conventional transit within the Cowichan Valley would rise from $2.25 to $2.50.

Statistics provided by BC Transit suggest the annual revenue from the NCX will decrease by $16,261 if the fares drop to $5, despite ridership increasing on the route by approximately 13 per cent, while the estimated revenue impact resulting from the proposed changes to the conventional service is an annual increase of $26,545. 

Cowichan Bay director Hilary Abbott asked why it鈥檚 not being recommended that the CVX reduce its fares, while the NCX would see its fares drop by 33 per cent.

Rachelle Rondeau, the CVRD鈥檚 transit analyst, said the CVX is an altogether different service from the NCX and serves a different demographic.

She said the CVX was initially set up to provide a commuting option for mainly government and other office workers, and to reduce traffic congestion on the Malahat.

鈥淲e are seeing a little bit of change over time in that we have introduced more of a midday trip to provide new travel options for non-6 a.m. riders but, that being said, the CVX service, in the way it鈥檚 set up, is very expensive to operate and we haven鈥檛, believe it or not, received a lot of feedback in regards to reducing that fare,鈥� Rondeau said.

鈥淲hat we do receive the most feedback on in general is improving the (CVX鈥檚) service, serving more areas, and improving frequency.鈥�

Rondeau said the other difference between the CVX and the NCX is that the CVX runs mainly from the south of Duncan to Victoria and the bus is not stopping in different communities along the way, and riders can usually get to their main destinations on one fare.

She said, however, the NCX stops in a number of different communities on its route.

鈥淪o a fare, for example from Ladysmith to Duncan or from Ladysmith to Nanaimo airport, of $7.50 seems quite a bit higher for those shorter trips, while the original intention of the service was from the Cowichan Valley to Nanaimo,鈥� Rondeau said.

鈥淎s well, the Victoria Regional Transit Commission didn鈥檛 review the CVX as part of their fare-review process and there wasn鈥檛 any appetite to consider reducing the fares on the CVX.鈥�

Jim Wakeham, the CVRD鈥檚 senior manager of transit, acknowledged that the CVRD has received few complaints about the $10 fare on the CVX, but said another reason that there鈥檚 no recommendation to lower the fare is that the CVRD is doing a bit of a balancing act between the tax-requisition amounts that are required to run the transit service and user fees from bus riders in this year鈥檚 budget.

鈥淭here鈥檚 grant funding that鈥檚 gone away so we鈥檝e used substantial amounts of our operating reserves while there鈥檚 been a number of years of no tax increases for transit [approximately eight years] and now it鈥檚 catch-up time,鈥� he said.

鈥淚n our upcoming budget discussion in a couple of weeks, there鈥檚 going to be significant increases [in costs] on both our commuter and conventional transit functions.鈥�