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| The Friendship House serves at the Prince Rupert Terminus of a new Prince Rupert to Terrace highway connection service |
The much anticipated debut of a new bus connection between two Northwest communities arrived this week, with the launch of the new Friendship House bus between Prince Rupert and Terrace.
The first run for the new service was scheduled for yesterday.
As they move into full service, the new shuttle will depart the Friendship House on Fraser Street at 10:30 AM, and arrives at the Skeena Mall in Terrace shortly after 12:30 PM.
As the twice a week schedule outlines, The bus will spend a little over two and a half hours in Terrace before it makes its return trip to the North Coast a 2:30 PM, returning to the Friendship House at 4:30.
The Friendship House is using a recently purchased 15 passenger van, with the cost to take the shuttle bus to Terrace listed as five dollars.
The schedule for the twice a week service, will see Tuesday and Thursday departures, with reservations recommended through the Friendship House office by calling at least a day in advance at 250-627-1717 extension 11 to book your seat and to find out if there are any changes to the schedule.
You can also book passage by stopping into the Fraser Street offices or by email at reception@friendshiphouse.ca
Riders will require valid government issued photo identification and those passengers who are under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Friendship House advises that anyone who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or exhibits behaviour that is deemed unacceptable by the driver or Friendship House staff will not be allowed to board the bus and use the service.
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| Friendship House is making use of its newly acquired travel van to launch the Prince Rupert to Terrace highway connector service with trips on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week |
The introduction of the Friendship House bus plans was made last fall, its welcome arrival makes for a partial answer towards transportation issues along Highway 16.
The Prince Rupert organization accessed funding for the project through the Province's Highway 16 Transportation Action Plan.
The start of the new service answers the call of some residents who had expressed some concerns over the fact that Prince Rupert and other regional stakeholders had decided to not participate in the larger community to community service that has been introduced by BC Transit over the course of the last year.
At the time of the Highway 16 initiative, the North Coast politicians and local leaders noted a preference to stay with the current transportation program hosted by the North Coast Transition Society.
The Highway 16 corridor service was introduced first by the BC Liberals in early 2017 and continued on following the change of government to the NDP.
Since then it has expanded significantly with a number of shuttle buses on routes between Prince George and communities along Highway 16, it currently terminates at Terrace.
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| North Coast MLA was on the bus in November, taking part in the announcement of the expansion of the BC Transit Highway 16 shuttle service to Terrace |
At last November's introduction of the service to the Terrace area, it was noted that there were still hopes that Prince Rupert would join up with the common regional effort across the Northwest, to this point however, neither Prince Rupert City Council or Regional District have indicated any interest in signing on to the province led project.
More notes related to Transportation along the Highway 16 corridor see our Transportation page.
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