Camosun students after being passed up by a bus at Interurban (photo by the Camosun College Student Society).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCCSS executive director Michel Turcotte says that Interurban is the student society\u2019s primary concern at the moment in regard to transit. He says it\u2019s situated badly for good transit service, and with the new health building going up there, \u201cthis is not going to be a problem that goes away,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no major arteries in and out of that campus,\u201d says Turcotte. \u201cLansdowne, because of its proximity to Victoria and the University of Victoria, is easier for transit to target than that end of town. So our major concern is trying to find a way to improve transit service there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte says that one of the major challenges in getting students adequate transit service is the municipalities. He says that some of the decisions that Victoria and Saanich make actually make it harder for buses to get around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe redevelopment plan of the Shelbourne Corridor, for example, will dramatically slow down the 27\/28 because they want to narrow Shelbourne to one lane in places,\u201d says Turcotte. \u201cThere\u2019s a plan, also, to reduce the lanes on Blanshard. Then, if you go to the City of Victoria, they\u2019ve lowered the speed limit on Quadra and introduced other traffic-calming things\u2014to say nothing of the bike lanes, particularly the first one, which was built with apparently little thought to what impact it would have on buses. It\u2019s made things too tight and is seemingly on the wrong side of the road to help facilitate transit flow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though BC Transit had extra hours funded last year on transit routes impacting Camosun students, Turcotte says that most of those extra hours are just making up for these new traffic-calming measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not really increasing service, it\u2019s making up for the congestion,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be some congestion\u2014like, if they\u2019re doing construction on the overpass by McKenzie, I can see that\u2014but some of the municipalities are doing things that are actually making things worse, admittedly, to make it more attractive for alternative modes of transportation, but there are far more people that ride the bus, I\u2019d argue, on a yearly basis than ride bicycles. So if we\u2019re really interested in moving people around and getting them out of cars, there needs to be an efficient, functional transit system. Most people can\u2019t take their families on bicycles in the middle of January; that\u2019s really not an option for people.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to Interurban, Turcotte says that there needs to be more service on route 21, which brings students to and from that campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve ever been out to Interurban at rush hour, you\u2019ll notice that Interurban Road can be backed up almost to the college at times. One of the reasons for that is there\u2019s no other way out, other than the corner of Wilkinson. There used to be a way out by North Road that Saanich closed down five or six years ago. We\u2019re essentially paying buses to sit in traffic on that route. So for every degree of congestion, [BC] Transit needs to add another bus in order to try to make up for that. If we get those buses moving, we could actually move more students. Same with the Island Highway; if the buses were able to get to Langford, you\u2019d actually need fewer buses because they\u2019d be recycling much faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte says that he\u2019s been working closely on transit issues for Camosun students for almost two decades, and he\u2019s seen the numbers growing constantly during that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole transit portfolio is a very challenging exercise,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been following it for close to 20 years since I negotiated the first U-Pass. Usage by our members has increased almost every year during that 20 years. That in itself creates issues for transit; ultimately, we need a global solution in Victoria in terms of solving the transit problem that includes provincial, federal, and local funding to make a sustainable future for us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Planning procedures<\/strong><\/p>\nJames Wadsworth is the planning manager at BC Transit; when I ask him if he\u2019s aware that there\u2019s a problem with Camosun students being passed up, he has a simple answer: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wadsworth says that BC Transit reviews its routes quarterly and makes adjustments within the resources that it has. Sometimes that takes the form of restructuring busy routes, which is what they did with the number 4, which services Lansdowne, a few years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the trips started downtown, and then went up in the morning toward Lansdowne and UVic; we were running a bus every eight minutes,\u201d he says. \u201cBut not all the corridor needs the same level of service, so we started some of the trips around the Times Colonist<\/i> area and have them circle back once they\u2019ve gone through the rest of the route and come back and start again. So we were able to use the same amount of buses and run a bus every four minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In regard to the increased service that Turcotte says the number 21 needs, Wadsworth says that BC Transit needs more service to Interurban, period; he mentions the increase in students with the new health building and says that transit is aware that ridership is going to increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent years, we\u2019ve added additional trips on the route 8\u2014which also serves the Interurban campus\u2014we\u2019ve added increased service on the 39\u2014which gets people from Royal Oak to the Interurban campus\u2014and in the next year we\u2019re proposing an additional expansion to the [Victoria Regional] Transit Commission [VRTC], who make the decisions on service levels. At the end of the day, they make the decisions on service plans that we propose to them,\u201d says Wadsworth. \u201cWe\u2019re proposing an additional four buses and 10,000 hours to begin to start another route up to the Interurban campus.\u201d (Wadsworth says this proposed route would be a Gorge-Hillside crosstown route with the bus, ideally, starting in Royal Oak, going to Interurban, Tillicum Mall, Gorge and Hillside, Lansdowne, then UVic.)<\/p>\n
Wadsworth says that transit listens to Camosun students, pointing to a change they made on the 39 route to better serve students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith transit services and ridership demands, it\u2019s dynamic and is always changing, so we always look for ways to best use the resources to carry the most people,\u201d he says. \u201cThrough expansion and talking to Camosun students through previous planning, one of the things they asked us to do was to have more services from the West Shore to the college, so we were able to take one of the routes\u2014the 39, which goes to the Interurban campus\u2014and extended that further out to the West Shore, so more people were close to that service and didn\u2019t have to transfer to it. It\u2019s available to them because it\u2019s available from walking distance from where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wadsworth says that one of the changes that Camosun students should know about that\u2019s coming in January is that the routes 7 and 21 will be combining into one route, allowing easier access from Fairfield to Interurban.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a route 7 that operates in Fairfield, and it goes from downtown up to UVic and the Lansdowne campus; we\u2019re taking that bus route and we\u2019re going to what we call interline, or combine, it with the route 21 that goes from downtown out to the Interurban campus. That will function as one bus route. It will be published in the schedule as two different bus routes, but you\u2019ll be able to get a one-seat from Fairfield all the way up to the Interurban campus in January.\u201d<\/p>\n
The college perspective<\/strong><\/p>\nShane Busby is vice president of administration at Camosun College; he oversees Ancillary Services, which includes the Transportation and Parking department. Busby says that he assumed pass-ups were happening to Camosun students \u201cvery infrequently\u201d and says he will get the college to work more closely with the CCSS to monitor pass-ups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my view, any pass-ups are not acceptable,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Busby says that he recognizes that BC Transit can only provide service they are funded for, but he says that his first and only goal is to make sure that students at Camosun are well served.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think BC Transit put a lot of energy into ensuring that people in the Western Communities are provided with an adequate service, knowing that the West Shore communities are among the\u2014if not the\u2014fastest-growing area in the province,\u201d he says. \u201cCertainly transit services need to be available out there. So they certainly have their priorities, and we have our priorities, I just want to make sure that our priorities and their priorities align and I tell them where they align and when they align.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busby says that the college does communicate with BC Transit, and he hopes the two parties will continue to have a relationship so students aren\u2019t being passed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a cancellation of a route at Interurban that we were notified about after the fact, so we reached out to BC Transit and said, \u2018That\u2019s not acceptable. You need to give us the heads-up to make sure that we have the opportunity to engage our constituents\u2014students, if you will\u2014to make sure they\u2019re not put out by this.\u2019 So we\u2019re going to be working through the processes that transit has in place, and we\u2019re going to be working through other methods,\u201d he says. \u201cOur Ancillary Services staff, Transportation staff, reach out to BC Transit on a regular basis; they\u2019ve developed some really good working relationships with the planning staff there, so we\u2019re going to be, hopefully, leveraging that and those relationships, and, ultimately, getting our message across around increased frequency and increased ridership, those sorts of things. So on a number of different fronts, we\u2019re trying to press forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busby says that when the college was moving their development permit for the new Interurban health building through Saanich Council, he talked with council about needing enhanced bus service. He says they were amenable to working with the college, and based on that, he asked to go speak to the VRTC\u2014the ones who make the big decisions; more on them shortly\u2014next month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been scheduled in for early December to go and represent the college and put forward our needs and our wishes in a reasonable way,\u201d he says, \u201cunderstanding that we do need to work with this rather large organization to make things work for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where the decisions happen<\/strong><\/p>\nCamosun students do have a chance to have a say at BC Transit, by way of a non-voting seat on the VRTC board. The position alternates yearly, with someone from the CCSS sitting on the board one year and someone from the University of Victoria Students\u2019 Society (UVSS) sitting on it the next year. This year, UVSS director of campaigns and community relations Anmol Swaich is occupying the seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main student issues are bus pass-ups, the lack of late-night service, and, since I represent both UVic students and Camosun students, we\u2019ve also lobbied for better routes to the Interurban campus,\u201d says Swaich.<\/p>\n
Swaich says the problem is partially that there are more people\u2014students and otherwise\u2014riding the bus these days, but funding hasn\u2019t reflected that switch.<\/p>\n
\u201cFunding that BC Transit is receiving hasn\u2019t really been increasing, but there are more students and there are more people using transit,\u201d she says, \u201cso I think the situation might be getting worse, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte says that he fully understands the financial situation that transit is in and says he gets frustrated seeing buses gridlocked in traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the major challenges,\u201d he says. \u201cEverything works on hours; when you\u2019re using those hours to stand still in traffic, let\u2019s say on Interurban Road, that\u2019s a waste of value in terms of transit, in terms of local taxpayers, provincial government, and students who are paying for the U-Passes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Park says that he understands that the ongoing problems with students being passed up by BC Transit do not stem from malicious intent, and he also points out that it\u2019s important to not shoot the messenger.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly not BC Transit\u2019s intention to leave students out in the cold\u2014literally and figuratively\u2014and it\u2019s absolutely not the bus driver\u2019s fault,\u201d says Park. \u201cThe solution is more investment in transit, and that\u2019s going to lead to better transportation solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swaich says that if there could be a change in revenue allocation from the provincial Carbon Tax toward public-transit funding, it would be a good way to get more money to transit and to help alleviate some of the issues students face. She also says an increase in the provincial Motor Fuel Tax would help.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now funding is contingent on property tax increases or municipal funding, so we\u2019re asking for the funding formula to be changed to 46.69 percent, which is how much we would ask for from the dedicated operating grant from the provincial government.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\nAccording to Turcotte\u2014who says that the CCSS recently met with the president and a vice president of BC Transit to address student transit concerns, and that they were \u201cvery well received\u201d\u2014two things need to be done for transit service to improve for Camosun students: the funding formula needs to change, and municipalities need to work together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government of British Columbia needs to change the funding formula so that it\u2019s easier for the Transit Commission to access all the money that\u2019s on the table,\u201d he says. \u201cThe other thing is there needs to be coordination between transit, the municipalities, and what user groups want. Right now we have a situation where the bike lobby is being listened to immensely by Victoria and, to some degree, Saanich, to the adverse effect of those interested in helping transit out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wadsworth says that the VRTC has asked the provincial government for an increase to the fuel tax to \u201csupport further improvements to the transit system\u201d and is aware that there is work to be done to make commuting by transit better for Camosun students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always working with people in the community to improve transit,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re always looking at the service to see if we can make it better. There are a lot of improvements that we could be making out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte, who says that students are the largest single stakeholder in local transit, adds that money is a major issue, and stresses that politicians need to remember transit users when implementing changes that have an impact on commuters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people want to have parks on streets and narrower lanes, maybe we need to invest in subways in Victoria, but we don\u2019t have the population to support that,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery change inhibits our members from getting around. Some politicians may think they\u2019re only punishing car drivers, but that\u2019s not the case, because buses occupy the same roads as cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wadsworth says that transit does work with municipal governments in regard to how transit provides service and about projects that the municipality is doing that will have impacts on or benefits to transit users.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work with them by raising awareness of the trade-offs that certain choices might have on the corridor; transit service levels are influenced by ridership and the amount of time it takes to travel from one part of the community to the other,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Turcotte adds that maybe with the change in government there will come a change in transit policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that the new provincial government, considering that there\u2019s a large Green influence on the government, that might translate into some better policies in relation to transit and funding,\u201d says Turcotte.<\/p>\n
Busby says that, ultimately, the college would like to see no pass-ups occur.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the optimal goal,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely going to work on that. I think we can make some advances and move toward that. That\u2019s the goal; ultimately, it\u2019s probably going to fall short of that, but that\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Park, who took the photo on September 19 that once again brought attention to student transit issues, says that the problem is one of quantity, not quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need more transit,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not that transit is bad; it\u2019s that we need more of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On September 19, the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) posted a picture on their Twitter feed of \u201cwell over\u201d 40 students at a bus stop at Camosun\u2019s Interurban campus. Many of the students are staring at their phones; the ones who aren\u2019t look anything but happy. It\u2019s the beginning of a new semester, and already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-november-1-2017"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14923,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14921\/revisions\/14923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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