9623 replies to this topic

[spanky123]

So then it's a mechanic shortage.

 

When is the mechanic's union contract up for negotiation? Wouldn't be the first time a union manufactured a problem leading up to a contract discussion.

[Mike K.]

They’re having staffing issues, not necessarily performance issues among the current stock of mechanics.

Heavy duty mechanics are in demand everywhere and can earn far more elsewhere than at BCT. Even if wages rose 20% that would still compete with demand that is willing to pay more.

[Victoria Watcher]

They’re having staffing issues, not necessarily performance issues 

 

look.  it's 2019.  even if it is a performance issue it's no big deal.  no need to deny it.  it happens to all mechanics from time to time.  especially if there is other stress like a high workload.  40% of them over 40 years old statistics say.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 November 2019 - 05:07 PM.

[kxl]

who bought GO buses? wilson's or cvs? they might not even be cleared to run as passenger transports in bc if they are new arrivals.

They’ve already been in operation throughout this past cruise ship season

[Victoria Watcher]

still with GO markings?

[kxl]

The logos were removed from buses before they started putting them into service. But I remember they hadn’t been removed yet during trial runs.

[spanky123]

Speaking of which, Victoria council is challenging civic leaders to ride transit for a week and see how the system works for them.

 

What about civic leaders who drive electric cars? Wouldn't that increase greenhouse gas emissions?

[Mike K.]

I wrote this in the Victoria politics thread but I might as well add it here.

Sooke’s mayor responded to Victoria councillor Dubow’s transit challenge (asking local politicians to ride the bus for a week) that it may be easy for him, but impossible for others to ride the bus. I suspect that was the point Dubow was trying to make to highlight the state of the system.

In any case, mayor Tait made a valid point. Sooke has terrible transit services. She said they need to be “dramatically” improved. And this goes for the entire region outside of the central urban core, despite homeowners region wide paying transit taxes through their property taxes and transit taxes through their fuel purchases.

I know from my own experience that living outside of the central core the bus is the absolute last option I consider. It’s staggeringly inefficient, takes a long time to use, and buses are frequently either ghosted with no notice or late. It’s a no-go and get I have to pay for it whether it’s useful to me or not.

[Victoria Watcher]

is there a better deal than this in all of british columbia?

 

30 rounds trips per day weekdays leaving from sooke from 5:03am to 12:50am.

 

[Mike K.]

If it was such a good deal, do you think only 10-20 people per hour out of a population of 20,000 (Sooke, Otter Point, Shirley, etc) would be riding the bus? It takes nearly two hours to travel by bus from Sooke to downtown Victoria, including a layover in Sooke's town centre (the bus loops through the town on the way "in", not out and requires riders to wait a lengthy period before proceeding), and another layover at Langford Exchange (this one being much shorter, but can be well over 5 minutes).

[Mike K.]

I just checked the schedule to show an example of this layover issue in Sooke, and probably what the mayor is referring to.

 

So you've just walked 2 kilometres to the nearest bus stop and you've boarded a bus at 9:57AM, a bus arriving from downtown Victoria, but it loops through town while the outbound bus does not, so you're heading into Sooke's town centre. The bus will arrive at the town centre at 10:05. You must now sit at the town centre until 10:29. That bus will arrive at Langford Exchange at 11:04, at which point it becomes a 50, departing at 11:06. That 50 will arrive in downtown Victoria (View at Douglas) at 11:42 (ish). And that's provided there are no scheduling conflicts or congestion, which there almost always is.

 

You caught that bus at 9:57, had a layover of 24 minutes in the town centre, and if your bus made good time, you had another layover in Langford. You arrived in downtown Victoria just before noon. Then you have to do it all over again.

 

Meanwhile in that same time you could have driven to downtown Victoria in well under an hour. For $2.50 one way, or $5 in both directions, I can't think of a worse way to spend my money.

[Victoria Watcher]

oh i see.  you want not only 30 round trips per day (and earlier and later service than anywhere else on the system - for example gordon head residents have to wait until after 6am for the first bus and the last one leaves at midnight) but you also want express buses.

 

i guess you want an "exclusive" sooke bus that does not share its capacity with other less worthy communities along the way.

 

maybe few people take it because they choose to live in sooke and in doing so they figure they will need a car or other transportation.  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 November 2019 - 08:36 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Meanwhile in that same time you could have driven to downtown Victoria in well under an hour.

 

not for $2.50.

[Victoria Watcher]

So you've just walked 2 kilometres to the nearest bus stop and you've boarded a bus at 9:57AM, a bus arriving from downtown Victoria, but it loops through town while the outbound bus does not, so you're heading into Sooke's town centre. The bus will arrive at the town centre at 10:05. You must now sit at the town centre until 10:29. That bus will arrive at Langford Exchange at 11:04, at which point it becomes a 50, departing at 11:06. That 50 will arrive in downtown Victoria (View at Douglas) at 11:42 (ish). And that's provided there are no scheduling conflicts or congestion, which there almost always is.

 

i guess you want an "exclusive" sooke bus that does not share its capacity with other less worthy communities along the way.

 

and you want 60 return trips so that one loops one way at sooke and one loops the other way.

[Mike K.]

oh i see.  you want not only 30 round trips per day (and earlier and later service than anywhere else on the system - for example gordon head residents have to wait until after 6am for the first bus and the last one leaves at midnight) but you also want express buses.

 

maybe few people take it because they choose to live in sooke and in doing so they figure they will need a car or other transportation.  

 

You'd have a point if those people who chose to live in Sooke and figured they will need a car or other transportation were not required to pay a transit tax on their property tax bill, and another transit tax when they fuel up their vehicle.

 

But they pay the same amount of transit tax as your Gordon Head resident, and I would imagine significantly more fuel based transit taxes.

 

There has to be a balance. If Sooke residents are expected to pay for transit via property tax and fuel tax, they can expect adequate service.

[Mike K.]

i guess you want an "exclusive" sooke bus that does not share its capacity with other less worthy communities along the way.

 

and you want 60 return trips so that one loops one way at sooke and one loops the other way.

 

That's what is referred to as express service, and it makes communities like Metro Vancouver function, where they have many express buses connecting communities that pay property and fuel taxes for those services. Sooke pays, but doesn't get the service. I suspect that's the issue Tait is quietly bringing up.

[Mike K.]

not for $2.50.

 

A couple driving into downtown Victoria in a diesel Jetta would each pay $1.50. That's simplistic, I know, as there is maintenance. So let's call it $2.00 per person.

[Victoria Watcher]

 

 

So you've just walked 2 kilometres to the nearest bus stop 

 

you'd have to be outside this blue line to be a 2km walk from the bus (red line).  very very sparse population here.

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 November 2019 - 08:47 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

look it's $2.50 for 80 minutes.  to go from vancouver to surrey (41 minutes) at peak it's $5.75 each way.  sooke get the best mileage for the price paid in all of victoria.

[Mike K.]

You're missing a lot of road detail being zoomed out that far. You're barely out of Sunriver at 2km, as you can see below.

 

The roads also twist and curve. Few people walk in a straight line. And unless you walk all the way into the town centre to catch the departing bus you're now forced to wait 24 minutes during the layover.