Don’t worry, suburban drivers will help fund more transit gas tax revenues so you’ll get more frequent 26 runs from UVic 🤗
It’s a short walk though, c’mon. 15 minutes tops? I thought the urban people loved grid patterned streets and sidewalks and frequent transit along the main drag, but this distance is too far?
Just a heads up, according to a UBCM report on the gas tax from 2018, only 4% of funds went towards public transit.
There's a lot of research out there on what constitutes walkability (and there's a good study on how it can be measured here), and WalkScore has done a lot of research too. For a specific location to get top marks, it should have all necessities (grocery store, bank, clinics, pharmacy) and some areas of interest (restaurants, shops, etc) within 400m. After that distance, the likelihood someone will walk to their destination decreases substantially (roughly logarithmic). The distance between University Heights and the Ian Stewart Complex is about 1km, so it's not at all what would be considered walkable. In fact, I was quite shocked at how low its rating was on WalkScore (66/100).
Getting walkability is a bit of a science (like a creating a secret sauce), and while short distances are important, there's a lot more to it. Part of it is a sense of safety, how enjoyable the walk is (McKenzie is not), and the quality of the destination. While University Heights is definitely on an upwards trajectory, that corridor in general is pretty miserable to walk along in either direction from Shelbourne (I've done it quite a few times). Adding protected bike lanes is a good step in the right direction, but Saanich has a long way to go before that corridor could be considered an enjoyable place to walk and bike along. Activating McKenzie and Gordon Head with higher density and commercial units is a great start, but it still ain't got that secret sauce down pat.