10006 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, Today, 04:56 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

How do they mean by expanding the service?