Passenger buses will start travelling from Victoria to Tofino/Ucluelet on Friday, March 29, kicking off their service which stops in Nanaimo and other mid-Island communities. (The Wilson's Group)

By Jordan Davidson

island bus service

Victoria to Tofino: cross-island bus service through Nanaimo resumes Good Friday

Mar 26, 2024 | 5:28 AM

NANAIMO — Bus connections linking all points of Vancouver Island are resuming ahead of the summer tourist season.

The Tofino Bus, operated by Wilson’s Transportation, makes regular weekly runs from Victoria to Tofino/Ucluelet while stopping in Nanaimo, Parksville, and Port Alberni, and will resume service on Friday, March 29.

Sales and marketing manager Steven Seltzer said buses start in the provincial capital around 9 a.m. and end in Tofino in the late afternoon.

“The island has changed over the last bunch of years, but we still believe we’re a viable service. We have 56 passenger coach buses doing the trips up and down, one trip a day. We’re looking forward to seeing what the numbers are like.”

Travel schedule sees trips operate Thursday through Monday.

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Washrooms are available on board, and passengers can bring items up to 50 pounds, including surfboards.

He said they would be open to expanding by adding more buses or routes to their schedule if the demand for it is there.

Seltzer said despite some COVID-19 and wildfire-related challenges in the past few years, they’re more than ready to offer their services again.

“Like everybody else, we were hit hard by COVID and now we came back last year, there were some challenges that we faced like everybody else with the road closures, but we’re really hoping to get back to bridging our Island communities this year.”

A wildfire along Hwy. 4 near Cameron Lake sparked in early June last year closed the road and created a long detour across Vancouver Island, causing headaches for locals and tourists alike.

Seltzer said the detour significantly impacted their routes, forcing them to cancel or reschedule service depending on which roads were open at the time.

“It affected us significantly. We had so many people calling for our service and asking because they were isolated and cut off and it was very frustrating not being able to get to those communities. We’re really hoping that we can make a difference.”

The passenger buses provided by Island Express began trips from Nanaimo to Tofino last year. They have since increased their capacity and provide service year-round, except on Christmas Day. (IslandLink Bus’s website)

The Island Express Bus also provides a similar service, using their 15-passenger buses to serve a wide area of Vancouver Island, with regular service from Nanaimo to Tofino starting last January.

Operations manager Lisa Brisco said they were “absolutely amazed” at the demand they saw for their service.

“Buses are consistently full, our Port Alberni passenger loads are excellent…out of Tofino/Ucluelet daily the buses are full.”

Brisco said their policy for cargo is “if you can carry it we can carry it”, meaning surfboards and bikes won’t be allowed unless they can compacted down to the size of a suitcase due to limited storage space.

The Island Express Bus will be extending north later this year, with service starting in Port Hardy, Port McNeill and Campbell River.

“Starting May 16, we’ll operate on a daily basis to Port Hardy and back, and that’ll be going out of Courtenay/Campbell River and meeting up with our Nanaimo services, our Victoria services and our Tofino services,” said Brisco. “We’re going to be covering the island.”

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow