About a dozen tourists lined up to board a B.C. Ferries connector bus in front of Crystal Gardens on Friday afternoon, marking one week since the soft opening of the new station and stop.
Mayor Lisa Helps said she has not received any public feedback — positive or negative — since the bus operators moved out of the former bus depot across the street on June 30.
“It is a pilot project, so we certainly welcome feedback,” she said. “And we’ll monitor the operating model pretty darn closely to see if it can be a long-term solution or not.”
Victoria council reluctantly voted to approve the station and bus stop for an 18-month period, after operators were given notice they had to move out of the former depot. Several councillors expressed fears about congestion and inadequate facilities, but the test will come in the coming weeks.
The Capital City Station, as the storefront space has been dubbed, is a 1,800-square-foot retail space operated by the Wilson’s Group.
The station includes a waiting area and ticketing services for Greyhound, B.C. Ferries Connector and Tofino Bus, said Tracy Zeisberger, Wilson’s director of marketing and community relations.
Those operators also use the curbside pickup area, alongside YYJ Airport Shuttle and West Shore Express.
Tickets for all operators are available on their individual websites, but Zeisberger said a centralized website for the station is in development. Drivers for the buses also sell tickets from their vehicles.
The operators have leased enough street space from the city to accommodate a maximum of three buses on the south end of the block near Crystal Garden. If all goes as planned, the longest a bus should stop there is 20 minutes, Zeisberger said.
“It really is drop and go, or load and go,” she said. “We have a curbside concierge, whose job is to manage flow, greet people and load buses.”
None of the operators’ bus schedules have changed as a result of the move, she said.
Long-term parking for buses is hosted off-site and B.C. Transit has moved its stop north to the end of the block, near Humboldt Street.
IslandLink buses, which was never associated with the bus depot, will continue to pick up passengers across the street, in front of the Victoria Conference Centre.
IslandLink owner Phillip Morgan said he didn’t expect business to be affected by the other companies’ move.
Ten sites were evaluated before the Douglas Street proposal was chosen as the best option for the bus lines, public and tourism industry.
Vancouver developer Nat Bosa has plans for a residential development with commercial space on the site of the former terminal at Douglas and Belleville streets.
