By Spencer Sterritt

Two buses, 5,000 hours of transit added to Nanaimo’s busiest route

Jun 27, 2018 | 3:43 PM

NANAIMO — Bus riders hopefully won’t have to wait as long to catch the VIU Express or be left behind because the bus is overcrowded.

An extra 5,000 hours of transit, meaning two additional buses on the route starting in January 2019, was approved by the Regional District of Nanaimo on Tuesday, June 26.

District transportation director Daniel Pearce told NanaimoNewsNOW the 40 VIU Express bus, which stretches from Woodgrove Mall across town to Vancouver Island University and then downtown Nanaimo, is a critical route for the whole transit system.

“It really is the spine of the network right now,” he said.

Roughly 40 per cent of all BC Transit ridership in the regional district is from the 40 bus. Many buses in the system also criss-cross or connect with the route.

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“With expanding this service, it creates a better spine network and ultimately allows for us to plan and expand on other routes which connect to it in an easier manner,” Pearce said.

Anyone taking the bus will now wait, if it’s on time, every 10 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes throughout the day and 30 minutes in the evening. The morning commute is half of what it was before the expansion.

Pearce said the addition will ease the burden of overcrowding on the entire transit system.

“At certain times of the day, we were having to put on two or even three buses following each other to actually get people to classes or downtown.”

The VIU route was previously voted on in favour of adding 5,000 hours out to the Duke Point ferry terminal.

Pearce said the route could be considered once more in the future, as well as bus service to the Nanaimo Airport.

The regional district is currently working on a transit plan for south Nanaimo and Pearce said more public consultation is likely in coming months as the plan is developed.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit