The Regional District of Nanaimo is backing a plan intended to bolster transit service and offer bus connections all the way to Victoria.
At a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday, March 18, RDN directors voted in favour of co-signing a letter to the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and B.C. Transit supporting expanded busing between Nanaimo and Victoria.
The letter asks for a plan and funding to allow for hourly service from 6 a.m. to midnight for routes from Victoria to Cowichan Valley and Cowichan Valley to Nanaimo, with bus fare of no more than $5. Infrastructure, buses and service hours would be needed, the letter stated, and it is hoped that the connection would be implemented this year.
As it stands, RDN Transit partners with the Cowichan Valley Regional District on the Route 70 Nanaimo-Cowichan Express from downtown Nanaimo to Village Green Mall in Duncan. There is also CVRD Transit service to Victoria.
Paul Manly, Nanaimo director, was among the committee members speaking in favour of supporting the letter from the advocacy group Better Island Transit, stating it was important to continue with the strategy for inter-regional buses.
"We've lost our Greyhound service," said Manly. "I remember speaking to a young 鈥� woman in the Ladysmith area who had to hitchhike to go to [Vancouver Island University] and really wanted to be able to take a bus to go to school for safety reasons and so this kind of integration is super important for the safety of working people in our community, students, for people who want to travel up and down the Island."
Jessica Stanley, Cedar-South-Wellington-Cassidy area director, said service in her area is sparse and voted against the motion.
"I don't see the point of asking for a plan when you don't want it 鈥� I don't want it," said Stanley. "This bus goes through my community, we contribute to it, it offers little to no benefit for people in my area. "This is a city-to-city bus 鈥� it's not transit in the way that we usually offer to get around your area. I don't love having to pay for this because it doesn't serve my communities' needs."
The B.C. government is "best positioned to develop a plan that includes the necessary infrastructure, fleet, expansion service hours and funding to improve the vital inter-regional transit service between Victoria and Nanaimo to support residents and visitors alike," said the letter, adding that the move would also make roads safer, lessen traffic and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Darren Marshall, RDN senior manager of transportation services, told the committee that the service can't realistically be implemented in the short-term.
"Both B.C. Transit and RDN staff don't consider the recommended implementation in 2025 as a feasible timeline due to budgeting and staff planning capacity," he told the committee. "Staff also consider these targets as aspirational and would, at the very least, be phased in over time."
