9623 replies to this topic

[Citified.ca]

A BC Transit double decker bus travels along Douglas Street in downtown Victoria. If a plan to extend late-night transit services gains support from the Victoria Regional Transit Commission, late-night buses could be departing from and to downtown Victoria as late as 3AM on Friday, Saturday and select holiday nights.

 

3AM late-night transit services to and from downtown Victoria mulled for 2019

https://victoria.cit...ulled-for-2019/

 

Late-night transit services in the Capital Region could be extended to 3AM as part of next year’s Victoria Regional Transit System scheduling improvements, Citified has learned.

 

On Tuesday, December 18th the Victoria Regional Transit Commission will vote on whether to back three recommendations brought forward by transit planners for the 2019/2020 operational year calling for an additional 20,000 operational hours.

 

Among them are amendments to Friday, Saturday and select holiday late-night scheduling for routes 4, 6, 14, 15, 27, 28 and 50 that would push last bus departures to between 2:30AM and 3AM for services between downtown Victoria and Esquimalt via routes 14 and 15, View Royal via route 14, Langford’s town centre via route 50, suburban Saanich via routes 6, 27 and 28, and UVic via Camosun College's Lansdowne campus through routes 4, 14 and 15. [Full article]

[CriticalMass]

I am sure all the seniors, people with walkers, strollers and wheelchairs coming in to Uptown from the Royal Oak area will not be impressed with the new 30/31 routing.

That will be a bit of a journey to get to Walmart from the new Carey Rd stop.

I don’t think that was a very well thought out change.

[Cats4Hire]

I am sure all the seniors, people with walkers, strollers and wheelchairs coming in to Uptown from the Royal Oak area will not be impressed with the new 30/31 routing.

That will be a bit of a journey to get to Walmart from the new Carey Rd stop.

I don’t think that was a very well thought out change.

How does one get to Walmart from the current stop though? You either walk up to the top floor then go back down, walk through the parkade with no sidewalks or get off at Oak Street and walk by Best Buy which is probably just as far as the new stop. The stop is right next to Wal Mart but there isn't really a good way at getting to it anyway.

[sdwright.vic]

Yeah, Walmart is pretty much smack in the middle of the mall. Exact same amount of walking no matter which side you are dropped of at.

[ryno8097]

The biggest issue will be transfers between southbound 30,31,70 and 71 onto route 26 as people will have to walk from the new stop on Carey at Ravine thru the mall to Oak Street. Buses coming from Carey onto Douglas cannot stop at Saanich Road (in front of Subway) as a result of how the Ministry designed the bus only access onto Douglas.

[Victoria Watcher]

what ever happened to the big elaborate uptown bus interchange?

 

https://www.saanichn...ptown-exchange/

 

 

B.C. Transit spends $5M on land for Uptown exchange

Purchase is the last piece of the puzzle to build a transit exchange at Uptown in Saanich.

• KYLE SLAVIN
• Mar. 1, 2012 7:00 p.m.
• NEWS

 

 

 

B.C. Transit will continue leasing the newly acquired property to the former landowners, until a plan is created for the exchange.

Uptown has been identified by B.C. Transit and Saanich council as a central hub for transit in the future.

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 December 2018 - 12:50 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

 

B.C. Transit recently purchased the last piece of the puzzle to build a transit exchange at Uptown in Saanich. Transit had to acquire four parcels of land, at a cost of $5 million, at Ravine Way and Carey Road.

In addition, there are adjacent properties owned by the District of Saanich and the Ministry of Transportation that will be used for the Uptown exchange.

 

B.C. Transit recently purchased the last piece of the puzzle to build a transit exchange at Uptown in Saanich. Transit had to acquire four parcels of land, at a cost of $5 million, at Ravine Way and Carey Road.

In addition, there are adjacent properties owned by the District of Saanich and the Ministry of Transportation that will be used for the Uptown exchange.

[kxl]

The biggest issue will be transfers between southbound 30,31,70 and 71 onto route 26 as people will have to walk from the new stop on Carey at Ravine thru the mall to Oak Street. Buses coming from Carey onto Douglas cannot stop at Saanich Road (in front of Subway) as a result of how the Ministry designed the bus only access onto Douglas.

Does this mean the Douglas/Boleskine (McLaren Lighting) stop is being removed? Where will the next stop be?

Edited by kxl, 16 December 2018 - 02:37 PM.

[Cats4Hire]

Does this mean the Douglas/Boleskine (McLaren Lighting) stop is being removed? Where will the next stop be?

no, the Westshore buses will still stop there but the routes coming off Carey (30, 31, 32, 70, 71) won't

[ryno8097]

Anyone transferring from 30/31, 32, 70/71 to Westshore bound routes will also have to get off at Carey and Ravine and walk 400 meters to the Douglas as Saanich stop northbound. Or you could continue on the bus to Cloverdale and cross the street.

[Cats4Hire]

So I'm not sure if I'm reading this right but are these scores based on how the attendees at the BC Transit meeting today thought these things should be prioritized? Why do they think a route from Oak Bay -> Uvic, having the 9 and 16 run every 15 minutes 7 days a week, another Dockyard -> Uvic route (this time via Admerals/Mckenzie) are that much more important than improving Sooke service? There are interesting ideas there like changing some midday 11s to 9s, restructuring the 53 to end at VGH, having 75 split (I assume that means a route that goes to the gardens then back downtown?) and running 6A and B as more frequent community buses instead of alternative 6s https://www.bctransi...s/1529702569527

[Mike K.]

As per this piece, of those 27 priorities planners chose to support additional crosstown services (which appear to overlap several of the options), 3AM late-night weekend services and additional Swartz Bay capacity throughout the summer.

 

The additional Swartz Bay capacity in the summer months is the #1 priority on that list, the cross-town services are at various levels of priority, and 3AM services are something like #17.

[Cats4Hire]

As per this piece, of those 27 priorities planners chose to support additional crosstown services (which appear to overlap several of the options), 3AM late-night weekend services and additional Swartz Bay capacity throughout the summer.

The additional Swartz Bay capacity in the summer months is the #1 priority on that list, the cross-town services are at various levels of priority, and 3AM services are something like #17.

Why do they want so many crosstown routes suddenly that don't add any new service areas? They're at capacity for drivers so shouldn't any new routes do things like cover areas with poor/no service? Why do we need another route from Dockyard to Uvic or another Mckenzie bus? Just boost 26s and 16s if pass ups are an issue.

[Mike K.]

Yeah, valid points.

 

Currently the biggest issues is frequency in the suburban areas and capacity along the trunk routes. But maybe the system wants to push for more riders and has identified crosstown routes as in-demand among those who do not currently use transit?

[57WestHills]

It'll take longer to get buses than drivers I would imagine. In any event I strongly suspect almost all of this will get funded... I don't think (but an not sure either) that there's an expansion order of buses for Victoria, yet?

[Victoria Watcher]

The projects on the Island Highway are part of a transit-priority corridor that is planned to stretch from downtown Victoria to the West Shore. In the works since 2014, it is starting to make a difference for commuters.

The northbound Douglas Street priority bus lane from Tolmie Avenue to the Burnside Road West/Interurban Road area, which opened this month, is saving bus passengers up to 10 minutes during peak travel periods, says the B.C. Ministry of Transportation.

 

https://www.timescol...wood-1.23546287

 

can anyone confirm that bus passengers travel any faster than cars though still?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 December 2018 - 04:37 PM.

[Mike K.]

In very congested traffic they absolutely would, but all buses are forced to linger behind the slowest/busiest bus along the whole stretch so it keeps the entire transit corridor moving at an unnecessarily slow speed.

[Brantastic]

More crosstown routes is important to me as I almost never bus if I need to transfer. It just doesn't feel worth my time since I have a car anyways. Living near Quadra and McKenzie, I will bus to UVic, downtown, Uptown, Royal Oak, Esquimalt, Tillicum or North Park, but if I'm heading to Hillside, Mayfair, Oak Bay, James Bay, Fairfield, etc., I'm driving. Transferring is just a pain.

[Cats4Hire]

More crosstown routes is important to me as I almost never bus if I need to transfer. It just doesn't feel worth my time since I have a car anyways. Living near Quadra and McKenzie, I will bus to UVic, downtown, Uptown, Royal Oak, Esquimalt, Tillicum or North Park, but if I'm heading to Hillside, Mayfair, Oak Bay, James Bay, Fairfield, etc., I'm driving. Transferring is just a pain.

this crosstown wouldn't add that much though. Direct connection with Dokyard/Mckenzie/Uvic to Admirals Walk and a couple other places and anyone who lives on Admirals is it. The 51 already runs the entire Mckenzie it's just limited to peak hours but if people living along there were demanding it I'm sure they could just make it run all day instead of a new route.

If you're transferring from one frequent route to another I don't see the issue though. If you do miss the other bus it's like 10-15 minutes to wait. I also don't want every stop having like 10 routes because people can't transfer and need direct routes everywhere. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Transferring is just a pain.

 

it might become less so when real-time bus tracking tracking happens. for you you could duck into home depot at shelbourne on your way to hillside mall.  maybe not if you need three cans of paint though.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 December 2018 - 12:12 PM.