9623 replies to this topic

[Caramia]

Any unified transit solutions should include boats. A look at our city on the map tells you that plain as day. It is stupid that it takes so long getting from James Bay to Esquimalt for example. We have the harbour ferry but we could do so much better.

[VicHockeyFan]

Any unified transit solutions should include boats. A look at our city on the map tells you that plain as day. It is stupid that it takes so long getting from James Bay to Esquimalt for example. We have the harbour ferry but we could do so much better.

Did all you folks know that there IS a ferry that goes from behind Tim Hortons on the Colwood strip into the dockyard every day for workers?

[Holden West]

^I didn't know that.

[url=http://leg.bc.ca/hansard/32nd2nd/32p_02s_800722p.htm:f0726]Hansard, 1980[/url:f0726]--the more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?

The minister may not be aware of it, but the Department of National Defence runs its own rapid transit service from one side of Esquimalt harbour to the other. I'm aware of it because my father works there. He's been a tool-maker at the dockyard since 1946. I've seen and I've been on what's called the Blue Boat Service. That's the service that takes employees of the dockyard in the morning from the western side of Esquimalt Harbour to their shops and in the afternoon takes them back from the shops to the other side of the harbour. Why does the Department of National Defence do this through the system of small boats? They are painted blue, and it's called the "blue-boat system. " They do it simply because the highway system is grossly inadequate and they find it cheaper to run boats back and forth across Esquimalt Harbour than to justify the expense of using the highway system in the absence of a transit system. When the Department of National Defence finds it necessary to run its own transit system on the base because the public transit system through highways and buses is so inadequate, then you have to ask as well what the additional costs are. I don't know that it's good enough simply to say that in order to lease this equipment and that track for these purposes - morning and evening commuter runs on the E&N - it will cost, therefore, these dollars and you have to have 9, 000 commuters to justify it.

[ressen]

Here is a bit of history on transit in Victoria.
http://www.transitworkers.novatone.net/PUBLIC/a_brief_history_of_transit.htm

[Mike K.]

Fares are going up on April 1st to the same level as in Vancouver. Transfers are now good for two-way travel but BCT isn't doing anyone any favours by limiting the time to only one hour. Since we're paying as much as Vancouverites now our transfers should be at least 1.5 hours like in Van.

[Galvanized]

^They are 30min longer in Vancouver because on average the commute is longer.

[obscurantist]

Not to worry -- I'm sure they'll raise fares in Vancouver again soon enough.

[Holden West]

At least in Vancouver they have "happy hour"--discounted evening fares.

[aastra]

Please explain.

[Holden West]

Don't they still have $2 all-zone fares after 5 p.m. over there?

[aastra]

I misunderstood. Yes, at non-peak times (evenings and weekends) the zones disappear. The fares don't change, but the zones disappear.

[Holden West]

I looked it up; $2.25 (the 1 zone rate) Weekdays after 6:30pm and all day Sat/Sun/Hol.

That sure beats $4.50.

[renthefinn]

Well Victoria should have rail based transit before you have to pay these fares. It's stupid otherwise, who's gonna pay that much to ride a bus, and if you will, I feel for your impoverty!

[Mike K.]

This letter-writer argues that the westshore doesn't have enough transit services. I can't blame transit for not having enough interest to provide door-to-door transit for an area larger than the core but a fraction of the population.

TC, Apr 02:

Provide better service to lure transit riders
Re: “Rising car use bad news for CRD planners,” March 28.

The discovery that more and more residents of the West Shore are using their cars to get around will not surprise anyone who has suffered through the steady deterioration of transit service to that area.

I am no longer a resident of the West Shore but I can still remember the sense of dread that accompanied the release of each new bus schedule.

As an example, one particular year the transit authority apparently decided that downtown Victoria was too dangerous for country folk after 7:15 p.m. on Sunday.

If you can get an evening bus these days you must be prepared for a long walk home from West Shore Town Centre because there are few or no connector buses.

And if you want to get across the West Shore — from Colwood to the big box stores of Langford, for example — be prepared for the equivalent of a day trip to Nanaimo.

I realize that transit service is about money as much as anything. But once we are forced to use our cars to take care of important business, the convenience factor takes over and the habit becomes hard to break. If you build it they will come. Dan Scoones,

Coquitlam.

[G-Man]

That name is familiar...

[G-Man]

Oh right he was a senior bylaw officer with CoV

[bcradio]

I guess he thinks that a bus every 15 minutes from Downtown to Langford is not enough? But then again, he's signing from Coquitlam, so who the hell cares :-)

[Mike K.]

...and Coquitlam is a suburban transit riders dream, isn't it?

[obscurantist]

[url=http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=6fdb898a-ff05-4e51-a07d-7e2b846baf74:a9550]For the first time in years, the province has agreed to fund increasing bus service in Greater Victoria.[/url:a9550]

Approximately $600,000 is being provided to help increase service frequency in high-growth areas and another $93,000 is being provided to increase handyDART service.

The funding means that the Greater Victoria transit service plans are now fully funded for both this year and next, said B.C. Transit senior vice-president Ron Drolet. That could translate into no further fare increases for two or three years.

In addition, the province is funnelling through funding from the federal Public Transit Capital Trust, which will eliminate the borrowing costs to acquire 20 new buses this year and 22 or 23 new buses next year. That's an annual cost of more than $800,000, Drolet said. ...

The Victoria transit commission is planning an approximate eight per cent increase in conventional bus service on the major trunk routes and community bus service in the West Shore area this year alone. ...

Fares went up April 1. ...

[renthefinn]

Wouldn't it be nice if Victoria could build a system that could support itself like skytrain does in Vancouver, without having to spend all their money to just sustain the existing system with a little expansion over the next couple of years, that wont be sustainable without more funding in the future (from increased taxes or increased subsidies from senior governments)?