Improvements promised for local transit
By Contributor
The West Kootenay Transit Committee (WKTC) received an update from BC Transit on the West Kootenay Regional Transit project on March 13. Kevin Schubert, Regional Transit Manager, outlined the gains that have been realized by the region working together.
The highlights include:
• Increased regional service which will add two more trips to the Nelson and Castlegar corridor bringing this in line with the number of trips currently scheduled between Trail and Castlegar;
• Improvements to Health connection service in Kaslo and Salmo;
• Improvements in the conventional service in Nelson and Castlegar;
• New fare zones and products;
• Single riders guide with alignment of routes and service options;
• Introduction of new smaller community busses to the system;
• Improvements have all been managed within existing budgets.
According to WKTC Chair, Castlegar Mayor Lawrence Chernoff, the goal of the three local governments when they agreed to come together was to improve the delivery of transit in the region for our riders and create efficiencies within the system.
“The gains that we have realized in this first step are exciting,” says Chernoff. “We are adding additional runs, making it more convenient for riders by having a single riders guide and fare. Our aim is to create efficiencies and grow ridership and we believe these changes are a positive step in those directions.”
The changes are scheduled to be implemented July 2. BC Transit is working with the local transit providers to finalize schedules and these will be made available in the next few weeks.
The WKTC is made up of elected officials from the three local government transit providers, Regional District Kootenay Boundary, Regional District Central Kootenay and the City of Nelson.
