Two new bus routes, four new buses and an additional 10,000 service hours are just around the corner for Greater Victoria.
All will be in place Sept. 4, with funding of $384,000 from the province and $730,000 from the Victoria Regional Transit Commission.
Bus frequency will also increase as the transit system moves away from its summer schedule.
“We always pull back some hours in the summertime and position those strategically through Thetis Lake and the ferries and so on,” said VRTC chairwoman Susan Brice. “In the fall we go back. We look to see where we can redeploy those dollars on some of our high-frequency routes, like UVic and Camosun.”
One of the new routes, 87 Sidney/Dean Park via Airport, aims to provide improved connections to Victoria International Airport. The other, known as 9 UVic/Royal Oak via Gorge/Hillside, is a crosstown route that will link the university and both campuses of Camosun College — with trips scheduled to match class times.
The route was created in response to a growing number of students registered at Camosun’s Interurban Campus.
Public feedback was also key in developing the new routes and expanding service, Brice said.
Changes are also coming to a handful of existing routes, including 83 Royal Oak/Sidney, 85 North Saanich, 81 Brentwood/Sidney/Swartz Bay and 82 Saanichton/Sidney via Stautw. The latter two will now travel on Lochside Drive all the way to Sidney.
Brice said bringing on new routes is “somewhat unusual,” and they are looked at when dealing with factors such as underserviced areas and new development.
More gas tax revenue has helped make the steps being taken possible.
“Part of this is the result of our two-cent increase in gas tax,” Brice said. “It allows us to provide for some expansion throughout the region.”
Transit got a two-cent-a-litre increase in the gas-tax money it receives — from 3.5 cents a litre to 5.5 cents — in this year’s provincial budget.
The four new buses coming online do not include an electric bus being tested throughout the region, Brice said.
The electric bus was put into service July 23 and should continue running into October.
