10021 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Striking Cowichan Valley transit workers hold rally in Duncan

 

https://cheknews.ca/...duncan-1244087/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transit goes on strike for a month, nobody really notices.    Maybe it's not completely necessary at all.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 March 2025 - 11:35 AM.

[mbjj]

My friend's mum lives up in Duncan and is well into her eighties, but my friend has no way to get up there now to visit. It's necessary for some. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Vic News:



RDN calls for expanded $5 bus routes from Victoria to Nanaimo

The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) directors co-signed a letter during their Tues. meeting, asking BC’s transportation ministry and BC Transit to support expanding the bus service between the Island cities. The letter asks for hourly buses from 6am to midnight for routes from Victoria to Cowichan Valley and Cowichan Valley to Nanaimo, with a fare of no more than $5. RDN wants the service to begin this year, but needs infrastructure, buses, and increased staffing for it.







$5 isn’t right. BCT should not be in this business.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 March 2025 - 05:08 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Cowichan Valley bus driver Shaun Bhoondpaul, also a member of the bargaining committee, said drivers want a readily available bathroom location with a break incorporated into it so it doesn’t intrude into the transit schedule.

In some cases, Bhoondpaul said, drivers face waits of up to 20 minutes at public washrooms at downtown locations, for example.



[…]




Bhoondpaul said the gap between Cowichan Valley and Greater Victoria drivers “continues to grow every single year.”

He said the goal isn’t parity but rather “a reasonable gap” that can be maintained.

A current job posting for a transit driver in Victoria lists an hourly salary range from $25 to $37.96.

Unifor’s national office said in a statement that it sees the potential for “transit strife” in the next six months when contract talks also come up in Greater Victoria — where the collective agreement for Unifor expires March 31 — as well as Kamloops and Whistler.


https://www.timescol...-issue-10412876

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 March 2025 - 02:53 AM.

[Mike K.]

HandyDart depot has opened:

Today, the Honourable Ravi Parmar, B.C. Minister of Forests, George Anderson, Parliamentary Secretary for Transit, Marianne Alto, Vice-Chair for the Victoria Regional Transit Commission, and Erinn Pinkerton, President and Chief Executive Officer for BC Transit, announced the opening of the new Victoria handyDART centre in View Royal. A joint investment of more than $83.5 million was made by the Government of Canada, Province of BC and the Victoria Regional Transit Commission.



The new handyDART centre is also BC Transit’s first Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Gold standard building, an internationally recognized benchmark for green, sustainable building performance. The investment in a long-term, fully electrified site will allow handyDART services to expand in Greater Victoria, bringing accessible, door-to-door transit service to commuters with disabilities, while also supporting the transition to a low-carbon battery electric bus fleet and the expansion of conventional bus service in the region.



The 8-acre site was holistically designed in collaboration with streamkeepers and the community to improve the ecological integrity of the degraded site. An existing poor habitat watercourse was reconstructed to reconnect with groundwater and replanted with 8,000 native plants and 350 trees. This created over 1-acre of new, protected habitat for salmon and trout within the Craigflower Creek watershed. Fish returned to the stream the first winter after construction and in two short years nearly 150 fish have returned to the new stream. The LEED Gold building has been recognized with an EcoStar Award for environmental design and was the first “Salmon Safe” urban development project on Vancouver Island.



The new facility positions BC Transit to expand handyDART ridership in Greater Victoria to meet the expected growth in demand as the region’s population ages and grows. It also allows BC Transit to utilize several properties in Saanich, including the former handyDART location, to create a five-acre site for a future Saanich Transit Centre. This third operations and maintenance facility in Saanich will support BC Transit’s future fleet of electric buses that are needed to meet local service demands and allow for the expansion of the Victoria Regional Transit System.



BC Transit is thankful for the many partners that came together to make the handyDART centre a reality. Longstanding relationships between the Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia helped fund the project while many more new relationships were created throughout the project. Collaborating with the Town of View Royal, Capital Regional District, BC Hydro, BD Hall, Bird Construction, Jacbob Brothers New Roads, a neighbourhood working group, local streamkeepers, and many others made this project what it is today.



TransDev Canada, handyDART operators, will soon move in with handyDART service expected to start operating out of the new facility in mid-April. The BC Transit project team will also be hosting an open house that the public is welcome to attend on March 29 from 10am – 12pm.

[Victoria Watcher]

The new $83.5-million HandyDART centre was officially opened Friday in View Royal at Watkiss Way and Burnside Road.

The facility, on eight acres, was funded by the federal and provincial governments and the Victoria Regional Transit Commission.

The building, built to the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design gold standard, is intended to allow handyDART services to expand in Greater Victoria. HandyDART provides door-to-door transit service to commuters with disabilities.



https://www.timescol...-royal-10446280

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 March 2025 - 04:56 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

How do they mean by expanding the service?

[Victoria Watcher]

BC Transit's new Colwood warehouse aims to keep buses running on time

 

The new provincial distribution centre will keep bus parts immediate and available as BC Transits ridership grows

 

https://www.vicnews....on-time-7935936

 

 

 

Is ridership growing?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 April 2025 - 06:49 PM.

[Mike K.]

It sounds like there was a really crazy incident aboard a bus in Gordon Head today. Police closed down the area of Ash at Tyndall.

[Victoria Watcher]

It sounds like there was a really crazy incident aboard a bus in Gordon Head today. Police closed down the area of Ash at Tyndall.

 

 

 

 

Person in crisis held under Mental Health Act by Saanich PD after bus incident

 

The person was in 'possession of weapons' and actively harming themselves

 

 

 

 

https://www.vicnews....sit-bus-7936306

 

 

 

 

Saanich Police responded to an incident onboard a BC Transit bus involving a person in “mental distress, in possession of weapons and actively harming themselves.”

 

Police were first notified of the incident just before 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday (April 9). They responded to the incident at the bus’ location near the intersection of Ash Road and Tyndall Avenue, closing the area off to the public and traffic.

 

Patrol officers with the assistance of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team and Crisis Negotiators established a dialogue with the person and successfully de-escalated the situation, said Saanich PD in a news release.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 April 2025 - 12:56 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

7 weeks no buses in Cowichan.

Maybe they are unnecessary at this point.

[dasmo]

The new $83.5-million HandyDART centre was officially opened Friday in View Royal at Watkiss Way and Burnside Road.

The facility, on eight acres, was funded by the federal and provincial governments and the Victoria Regional Transit Commission.

The building, built to the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design gold standard, is intended to allow handyDART services to expand in Greater Victoria. HandyDART provides door-to-door transit service to commuters with disabilities.



https://www.timescol...-royal-10446280

That’s a 10 million dollar parking lot with garage…. Government causes hyperinflation.

[Mike K.]

It sounds like there was a really crazy incident aboard a bus in Gordon Head today. Police closed down the area of Ash at Tyndall.

I hear it’s far worse than what is being reported. I’ll try to get more info.

[Mike K.]

7 weeks no buses in Cowichan.

Maybe they are unnecessary at this point.

 

Right, no bus services since February 8th.

 

BC Transit must be working on a way to prevent something like this from happening again. There does not appear to be any resolution in sight.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) board of directors is endorsing a letter to BC Transit and the Minister of Transportation and Transit. The Board is requesting the development of a plan to expand transit services between Victoria, Cowichan Valley and the RDN.

 

The letter states the province should include necessary infrastructure, fleet, and hourly service between 6:00am and midnight at a fare of no more than $5.

 

Currently, the cost of taking BC Transit bus via the Nanaimo-Duncan-Victoria system is $17.50. A $10 fare to connect between Victoria and Duncan; and a $7.50 fare to connect from Duncan to Nanaimo’s downtown.

 

The aim of the request is to provide more equitable, affordable, and frequent transit services between the regions.

 

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...anaimo-1250073/

 

 

 

 

 

That's ridiculous.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 April 2025 - 05:25 AM.

[Mike K.]

BC Transit is seeking feedback on multiple transit plans impacting quite a few routes: https://engage.bctra...y_tool#tool_tab

[Victoria Watcher]

What was the outcome of the Cowichan contract vote last night?

[Mike K.]

No updates that I’ve seen.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Greater Victoria Teachers' Association has thrown its support behind a campaign calling for free public transit for all B.C. teens.

https://www.vicnews....transit-7959869

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 April 2025 - 12:52 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

What was the outcome of the Cowichan contract vote last night?

Cowichan Valley Transit workers voted against a deal on Monday that would have seen an end to the nine-week long strike in the region.

"The strike will continue," said Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle on behalf of the union.

"We were in mediation last week, we had a rally...and then we tried our best to reach a tentative agreement, which we did, and brought it back to our members on Monday and they overwhelmingly rejected it," McGarrigle said.


[…]


"The progress that was made was not enough, as shown by the almost the unanimous workforce vote," he said. "It was almost 100 per cent."


https://www.cowichan...al-deal-7959165

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 April 2025 - 01:58 PM.