Improved infrastructure, Expanded service among highlights from BC Transit planning review for Council

What the current state of Transit in Prince Rupert is like and what is in the works for the future made for the narrative of a near twenty minute presentation to Prince Rupert City Council on Monday night,.

As they did a month ago for Port Edward Council, representatives of BC Transit provided a look at some of their latest data on ridership, as well as feedback from customer engagement to outline the vision for transit for the next few years and beyond.

Aaron Thompson, a Transit Planner from BC Transit participated by Zoom  explored a range of material with a focus on some of the changes ahead for the Transit System, observing how the new program builds off the previous Transit review of 2012 and the Community plans for both Prince Rupert and Port Edward.

Some of the challenges for Transit were noted with recent decrease in ridership, particularly during the COVID period of the last few years, with an estimated annual ridership on the Prince Rupert System that of 150,000 rides on transit per year, generating 214,000 dollars per year.

Their consultation process of the past also took note of some of the findings from their conversations with residents in the region, as well as with staff and the District.

Towards transit need, their community engagement findings noted how there was a desire in the community for additional service during the week on many routes, with the 53 Crestview route one of particular interest by residents. As well as to introduce Sunday service, along with an expanded service to the Container Terminal area.

Mr.  Thompson also observed of community interest in seeing more bus shelter infrastructure, as well the presentation made note of plans moving forward for something to be called the Prince Rupert Downtown Exchange project. 

"Recently the City was successful in getting some funding for the Downtown Exchange, so that is a project I believe is going to tender shortly" -- BC Transit Planner, Aaron Thompson

That Exchange has been mentioned from time to time at previous council sessions, though so far there has been no full overview of what is planned, or where the Transit exchange would be placed.

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Councillor Cunningham spoke to some of the statistical review as being somewhat out of date and irrelevant as he sees it as it was mostly pandemic focused as  compared to the ridership un the City. 

He also advocated for a bus route to serve the Seniors Residences at Cedar Village on 7th Avenue East.

"Also in your route planning we have a Seniors Housing project called Cedar Village which is up between 7th East and 8th in the 400 block and the residents of this have to walk anywhere from three to five blocks to get to a bus route. 

And I don't think it would be too far out of the way to have the Seal Cove Bus do a loop where it went through there and went back to it's original route ... I think it's something you should look at, I don't think it's mentioned at all in your plans for future routes,  I don't think it would add more than five, six or seven minutes to the route"

The Councillor also suggested that BC Transit reach out to the College to see if there are opportunities to partner with Coast Mountain College towards building bus shelters in the community. 

"As far as your talking about shelters, which are something the City of Prince Rupert needs because of our weather, it's not sunny all the time. Have you ever thought of going to the college and looking at their apprenticeship program and getting them to help build shelters that are prefabbed and could be put into place in different places in the Northwest"

The two presenters from  BC Transit noted that it was not a program that they had reached out towards at the moment, but was something that could be make for an opportunity to look at.

Mr. Cunningham also cautioned the Transit representatives about rising transit fares and the impact that could have on ridership.

"I don't know the exact years, but a while back, a former councillor pointed out to us when we put the rates up by twenty five cents, we went from one of the best ride-age percentages in the province down quite a bit. 

And I think in a lot a cases especially with the high percentage of youth and that in Prince Rupert and some of the lower income areas, that's why ride-age  is affected.  

You know fifty cents to a dollar a day can mean quite a bit of difference there especially for Seniors and that and  youth in the community, so I think it's very important that we keep always keep the rates where we can afford them"

Councillor Blair Mirau spoke to the priorities BC Transit has for the region and how they determined how to act on those, as well as to what the cost of annual service to the community would be and the timeline towards some of the service plan recommendations.

"I think all of your recommendations are obviously in line with what a lot of community members are looking for ... but I'm wondering then as far as Council's process for trying to set priorities and budget, do we wait until June or do you want us to be having this discussions a Council prior to that so we can give direction to BC Transit on which of those priorities or all of them that we want cost on" 

The Transit representatives outlined the various elements that go into their planning and how it was a six to seven year view of what's ahead. 

They did note for Council, that there was no approval for many of their initiatives in the most recent Provincial budget, and how any expansion initiatives would be in the future.

The presentation concluded with the BC Transit team offering up a view as to how their program could move forward through that period.

We previewed the presentation earlier on Monday, a copy of their Report is available as part of that report.

More notes on Transit across the northwest can be found from our archive page here

The full presentation can be viewed through the Council Video on Monday evening starting at the two minute mark.

More notes on the Monday Council Session can be reviewed through our Council Timeline Feature.

A wider overview of past Council themes is available as part of our Council Discussion archive.