9623 replies to this topic

[kxl]

About how many? One in three? One in ten? One in twenty?

On a #7 a few days ago, three out of eight.

[Victoria Watcher]

Victoria is making it easier for people under 19 to obtain free transit passes without having to visit city hall.

 

The city launched an online portal Friday where youth can apply to have the June, July and August passes mailed to their homes.

 

 

https://www.timescol...line-1.24136257

[todd]

Victoria is making it easier for people under 19 to obtain free transit passes without having to visit city hall.

 
The city launched an online portal Friday where youth can apply to have the June, July and August passes mailed to their homes.
 
 
https://www.timescol...line-1.24136257

They want to encourage people to use transit right now?

[todd]

On a #7 a few days ago, three out of eight.

It will be four out of eight now.

[todd]

^ https://youtu.be/KONoeHwu2pg

[kxl]

It will be four out of eight now.

Wouldn’t that be four out of nine?

[Mike K.]

No to mention the fact that certain routes are just not safe anymore and drug addicts and the mentally ill use their free passes to ride the buses and torment others.

That’s an issue, yes. My transit contact says the free transit situation has some people riding transit all day and problems result from that, whether it’s the driver eventually asking the person to vacate the bus and the request being met with antagonism, or passengers being accosted, messed being left behind, etc.

It’s been a difficult month and a half for BCT workers.

[Mike K.]

Victoria Regional Transit System Service Change - May 25


In order to continue providing BC Transit customers with critical transportation solutions, we are making adjustments to service in the Victoria Regional Transit System as part of our response to COVID-19, effective Monday May 25.
The changes will include:

Implementation of summer service routing and schedules

Continued temporary suspension of Friday and Saturday late-night service

Regular seasonal summer service increases to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal, Butchart Gardens and Thetis Lake will not be implemented

Sunday level service on Canada Day and BC Day

[Cats4Hire]

UVic students can register for a Summer Upass starting May 25 https://uvss.ca/services/u-pass/

[Cats4Hire]

Victoria Regional Transit System Service Change - May 25


In order to continue providing BC Transit customers with critical transportation solutions, we are making adjustments to service in the Victoria Regional Transit System as part of our response to COVID-19, effective Monday May 25.
The changes will include:

Implementation of summer service routing and schedules

Continued temporary suspension of Friday and Saturday late-night service

Regular seasonal summer service increases to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal, Butchart Gardens and Thetis Lake will not be implemented

Sunday level service on Canada Day and BC Day

I assume 17 will be temp discontinued too. I actually have no idea if it has been running but it's still listed on Nextride unlike 16 and 76.

[vortoozo]

Continued temporary suspension of Friday and Saturday late-night service

Regular seasonal summer service increases to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal, Butchart Gardens and Thetis Lake will not be implemented

 

The continued suspension of late night service makes sense since concerts / club nights won't be returning anytime soon.

So does the reduction of summer services to the ferry & gardens given that - for now - we're still in Phase 2 and are be asked to stay in our communities. Even when we go to phase 3, tourism is expected to be well down this year.

But - the Thetis Lake reduction doesn't make sense. If we are to avoid travel out of our communities, then you can bet that locals will be seeking out nearby recreation activities in greater numbers. Fuller parking lots (already constrained) make the bus a great option to these sites.

Edited by vortoozo, 20 May 2020 - 12:59 PM.

[Nparker]

...Fuller parking lots (already constrained) make the bus a great option to these sites.

It's an option, but the bus is never a great option.

[Mike K.]

Thetis lake is a short walk from Six Mile at Old Island so I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. It’s also an easy taxi ride from the West Shore’s exchanges.

[vortoozo]

Why offer it in the first place then?

[Mike K.]

That’s a good question. The extension is on a route that already comes quite close (turns at Atkins) which leaves about a 5 minute walk rather than a dozen or so from Old Island.

[Cats4Hire]

I'd actually be curious how many people actually take it or if they just do it cause "why not" 53 doesn't actually get any kind of boost, just actually enters the parking lot so the current ~90 minute schedule and running commuter or smaller buses would personally turn me away from it (plus I'm not one to complain about transfers but having to take a 30/31 and Uptown, cross the street, catch a 50 to Colwood exchange or all the way to Langford exchange depending on the time the get on the 53 (which if I went to Langford would involve weaving around residential areas for ~20 minutes) sounds like a fun way to spend more time on the bus than at the lake.

 

If they actually wanted good Thetis service I think a route (either starting at Downtown or Uptown is fine) with limited stops that just runs to the lake and loops back.

[Victoria Watcher]

It takes a mere 20 minutes for the double-decker to zip down the brand-new bus priority lanes and reach Hillside Avenue. During that time, only one more passenger, this one wearing a mask, boards. Like everyone else, she enters by what would usually be the exit door. Also like everyone else, she doesn’t pay. Drivers haven’t collected fares since March 19. It’s a physical-distancing thing.

 

In other words, B.C. Transit will whisk riders from the West Shore to downtown in 20 minutes, for free — and still the buses aren’t close to being maxed out. It makes you wonder what will happen June 1 when passengers must start paying again.

 

And it makes you wonder what will mean to B.C. Transit’s budget and, therefore, its ability to take people where they need to go, when they need to get there.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...ride-1.24138603

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 May 2020 - 07:05 AM.

[Mike K.]

The question we should be asking is who among Victoria’s 1,964 elected officials rides the bus to council meetings.

[Mike K.]

Today I saw what might be an issue for those wanting to take transit. A bus heading into Esquimalt was numbered Full, along with the route. It didn’t look like it had all that many passengers.

If the current ratios are maintained we’re in trouble as far as transit capacity is concerned.

[Nparker]

...If the current ratios are maintained we’re in trouble as far as transit capacity is concerned.

Capacity might be sufficient if enough people remain afraid to take public transit.