Victoria Regional Transit System
Founded1890
Headquarters520 Gorge Road East
Victoria, British Columbia
Service typeBus service, paratransit
AllianceBC Transit
Routes58
Hubs8[1]
Fleet355[2]
Daily ridership103,000 (weekdays, Q3 2023)[3]
Annual ridership22,487,400 (2022)[4]
OperatorBus service: BC Transit
HandyDART: Farwest
Websitebctransit.com/victoria
An Alexander Dennis Enviro500 equipped with bike rack, one of the double deckers servicing Victoria.

The Victoria Regional Transit System provides public transportation in the Greater Victoria region of British Columbia, Canada. Its operations are governed by the Victoria Regional Transit Commission in association with BC Transit. There were more than 16.8 million riders in 2021.[2]

History

Transit service began on February 22, 1890 by the National Electric Tramway and Light Company with four street cars on two routes.[5] On May 26, 1896 a packed streetcar crashed through the Point Ellice Bridge and 55 people were killed.[6] The Consolidated Electric Railway Company was forced into receivership by the disaster and emerged reorganized as the British Columbia Electric Railway on April 15, 1897.

A Dennis Trident at Fifth at Beacon stop in downtown Sidney. This bus is part of the first order of low-floor double-decker buses for public transit in Canada.

The use of buses started in 1923 for outlying routes. Although trolley buses were tried in 1945, the transit system was completely converted to motor buses in 1948. In 1961 BC Electric became part of BC Hydro, a Crown corporation, before the transit system was moved to the crown agency that would become BC Transit. In 2000, Victoria became the first city in North America to use low-floor buses and double decker buses in regular public transit service,[7] as well as the first city to use hybrid double-decker buses in 2009.[8] Victoria followed other BC Transit networks in late February 2020 with the introduction of compressed natural gas vehicles to their fleet.[9]

Until 2019, all BC Transit vehicles in Victoria were equipped with Trekker Breeze+ annunciators to call out streets for the blind. BC Transit's NextRide automated stop and route announcements took the place of the street announcements, along with electronic screens on all buses showing the next stop.[10]

In April 2023, BC Transit launched the first bus rapid transit line in the Victoria region.[11] The new line is branded as Blink RapidBus (also operating as Line 95) and makes fewer stops with faster and more frequent service compared to typical bus lines.

Operations

The transit system has a total fleet of 355 buses on 37 conventional routes and 18 community bus routes covering Greater Victoria including:[2] Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay, Langford, Esquimalt, View Royal, Colwood, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Sidney, Metchosin, Highlands and Sooke.

Primary bus route destinations are: Downtown Victoria, the University of Victoria, the Royal Oak Exchange in Saanich, the CFB Dockyard in Esquimalt, Langford Exchange in Langford, the Colwood Exchange in Colwood and the B.C. Ferries terminal at Swartz Bay in North Saanich.

Routes

The 95 Langford / Downtown Blink Rapidbus is the only Rapidbus route in the Victoria Regional Transit System

Routes are named for the direction of travel, thus each route has two (or more, if the route utilizes branches or short turns) names, indicating direction. Some routes also change in the evening or on weekends, which changes the route name again.

Routes are divided into four levels:[12]

  • Local routes, which are shown in grey and encompass the majority of routes
  • Frequent routes, which are shown in light blue and have headways of 15 minutes or better Monday to Friday, 7AM to 7PM
  • Regional routes, which are shown in light orange and provide limited-stop service
  • Rapidbus routes, which are shown in dark orange and provide limited-stop service with headways of 15 minutes or better, 7AM to 10PM, everyday

Some routes, such as 15 Esquimalt / UVic meet the requirements of both the Frequent level and the Regional level, but are listed as Regional routes.

Route frequency in the Victoria Regional Transit System varies greatly, some routes operate on a commuter-focused schedule, such as the 51 UVic / Langford and the 65 Sooke / Downtown via Westhills, with directional departures limited to morning or afternoon times. Other local routes, such as the 13 Ten Mile Point, operate infrequently due to low demand. Only one school special operates in the Victoria Regional Transit System, the 17 Cedar Hill, which operates once per direction per weekday. Other buses operate variants of their standard routes around the bell schedule of local schools.

Cowichan Valley Regional Transit System

Victoria is also served by two routes in the Cowichan Valley Regional Transit System. While these routes are primarily aimed at commuters, one weekday midday round trip and three Saturday round trips are provided on the 66 CVX.

Late Night Service

On Friday and Saturday evenings, BC Transit extends service on routes 4, 6, 14, 15, 26, 27/28, 61, and 95 until approximately 2:30 or 3AM. Late Night Service operates with headways of 30 minutes (except routes 26 and 61, which have late night headways of 60 minutes).[15]

Fares

Current fares are listed in the table below:[16]

Children (12 and under) Youth (13-18) and Senior (65+) Adult (19+)
Cash Fare Free[17] $2.50
DayPASS $5.00 (or two tickets)
10 Ticket Pack $22.50
Monthly Pass $45 $85

Children under age five are required to be accompanied by someone age twelve or older. Until 1 September 2021, children aged five to twelve were required to pay the youth fare.[17]

Daypasses (stylized as DayPASS) are only sold on board the bus. Since Daypasses can be bought using two tickets, they can effectively be purchased for $4.50 by purchasing a pack of ten tickets,[18] which have a price of $2.25 per ticket.

Students at the University of Victoria, Royal Roads University, and Camosun College are part of the U-PASS program. All students pay for subsidized bus passes as part of their fees ($81.00 for four months).

Only one fare zone exists for the Victoria network, as in April 2008 the system eliminated the then $3 two-zone fare.[19]

Accessibility

Victoria's transit fleet is fully accessible, with either ramps or lifts providing access. Some bus stops are considered inaccessible due to their design, with inadequate space to accommodate wheelchairs or operation of vehicle ramps/lifts.

Paratransit services, called HandyDART, are also available. Unlike the regular bus system, HandyDART is contracted out. The system currently has 48 vans with door-to-door service for people who cannot ride the conventional buses. Booking is required and restrictions on who can use the system apply.

Fleet

Vicinity 35' at McTavish Exchange
A Nova Bus LFS stopped on the side of the road in Downtown Victoria.
A 2021 Alexander Dennis Enviro500 leaving Legislature Exchange for Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal.

Expansion possibilities

A proposal was made in 2011 to build a light rail line from downtown Victoria, routing along Douglas Street to Uptown, beside the Trans Canada Highway and the Galloping Goose bike path to Six Mile, then along the Old Island Highway through Colwood to Langford.[20] Several options had been offered for LRT phased implementation, with all variations starting in downtown Victoria, and initially providing service to either Six Mile, Colwood Exchange or all the way to Langford Exchange. While the E&N rail corridor was considered as a potential route under this proposal, it wasn't selected as the ideal candidate. Full implementation of the line between downtown and Langford for initial opening was projected to cost $950 million. Long term transit network plans outlined potential rapid transit corridors for the future, including two that spanned from Uptown, with a corridor north to the Saanich Peninsula and Sidney, and a corridor east following McKenzie to UVic.

In 2018, British Columbia's Premier John Horgan rejected the idea of light rail service in the Victoria area because the area's low population would not justify light rail.[21]

E&N rail corridor

The E&N rail tracks from up island provide access into Vic West, across the inlet from downtown Victoria. The E&N tracks used to run into downtown via the Johnson Street bridge, but as the bridge has been replaced due to deterioration, the railway component of the bridge has been permanently closed since in 2011. There is no longer rail on the Downtown side of the Johnson Street Bridge. Rail has not been installed on the new bridge, but may be installed in the future.[22]

BC Transit has studied the E&N rail corridor as a commuter rail link from West Shore to Victoria.[22] A bike path is being built beside the E&N tracks, while allowing rail service to continue.[23] No formal plans have been announced for commuter rail on this corridor.

Board of directors

The Victoria Regional Transit System is overseen by an 8-member transit commission.[24] As of June 2023, the board members are:[25][26]

References

  1. ↑ "Transit Exchanges". BC Transit. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "BC Transit - Victoria Regional Transit System | Fast Facts | BC Transit". BC Transit. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Transit Ridership Report Third Quarter 2023" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association. 30 November 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "Transit Ridership Report Fourth Quarter 2022" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Coling, Adrienne (16 February 2016). "February 22, 1890 – the beginning of transit in B.C." The Buzzer Blog. TransLink. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Chan, Adam (26 May 2021). "A grim anniversary: 125 years since Victoria bridge collapse claimed 55 lives". CTV News Vancouver Island. CTV News. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "A Brief History of Transit in Victoria and the Lower Mainland". Archived from the original on 26 May 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  8. ↑ "Transit Commission Minutes March 18/23 2009" (PDF). BC Transit. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 July 2011.
  9. ↑ Chan, Adam (22 July 2020). "BC Transit rolls out 25 new natural gas buses in Victoria". CTV News Vancouver Island. CTV News. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  10. ↑ Crescenzi, Nicole. "BC Transit launches GPS bus tracking system across Greater Victoria". Victoria News. Black Press Media. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. ↑ Chan, Kenneth (12 April 2023). "BC Transit launches first RapidBus route serving Victoria". Daily Hive. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "Victoria Regional Transit Rider's Guide - June 28, 2021". BC Transit. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  13. ↑ "Winter 2022 Changes". BC Transit. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  14. ↑ Brougham, Laura (21 August 2023). "Victoria, Nanaimo, Cowichan Valley transit to return to fall schedule". CHEK News. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "Victoria Regional Transit Rider's Guide - September 5, 2023". BC Transit. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  16. ↑ "Fares - Victoria". BC Transit. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  17. 1 2 "Free Transit for Children 12 and Under". BC Transit. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  18. ↑ "10 Tickets". BC Transit. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  19. ↑ "BC Transit to eliminate 2-zone fares". Times Colonist. Canada.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012.
  20. ↑ McCracken, Erin (18 May 2011). "Light rail approval gains speed". Victoria News. Black Press Media. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  21. ↑ McCracken, Erin (20 May 2018). "Editorial: No case for light rail". Times Colonist. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  22. 1 2 "Evaluation of the E & N Railway Corridor: Commuter Rail" (PDF). Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. Government of British Columbia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  23. ↑ "Parks - E&N Rail Trail Project". Crd.bc.ca. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  24. ↑ "Victoria Regional Transit Commission". BC Transit. Archived from the original on 23 January 2014.
  25. ↑ "New Victoria Regional Transit Commission members appointed". BC Gov News. Government of British Columbia. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  26. ↑ "Update on Victoria Regional Transit Commission". BC Transit. Retrieved 4 August 2023.

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