Jump to content

Victoria Regional Transit System


Recommended Posts

16 hours ago, Matt Dunlop said:

1156 on Route 70 right now. I thought they'd refrain from putting the CNG's on the Route 70 since that route is pretty long. 

1156 1950.JPG

CNG buses can go all day on one fill. I work with CNG vehicles all day and can tell you that they have a pretty good range.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Matt Dunlop said:

Route 70 since that route is pretty long.

Saw 1164 on 24 Cedar Hill this morning at the terminus near 8:10AM. No photo, as I was busy doing this annoying thing called driving. Beautiful bus though, and not what I'm used to seeing in Victoria. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/26/2020 at 4:54 PM, InfiNorth said:

Saw 1164 on 24 Cedar Hill this morning at the terminus near 8:10AM. No photo, as I was busy doing this annoying thing called driving. Beautiful bus though, and not what I'm used to seeing in Victoria. 

Bus nerds don't drive, haha. A true bus nerd takes the bus to get places and snaps photos while they're on a bus. 

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, Matt Dunlop said:

Bus nerds don't drive, haha. A true bus nerd takes the bus to get places and snaps photos while they're on a bus. 

Bus routes and schedules don't always meet the requirements one may have for work and what not. Some of us that don't drive either have to live and work where the bus does serve, or rely on ride sharing with friends or co-workers. And yes, some 'bus nerds' drive because they have earned their license and, for the most part, driving to places saves time and hassle. Sure, taking transit is cheaper and better for the environment, but waiting for 20-30 minutes in -40°C in a sketchy neighborhood to make a transfer is not exactly fun. It's a bit of give and take. Both means have their drawbacks.

  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Matt Dunlop said:

Bus nerds don't drive, haha. A true bus nerd takes the bus to get places and snaps photos while they're on a bus. 

I know you're being all tongue-in-cheek, but I'm a teacher on call so I don't know where I'm working until, sometimes, as little as twenty minutes before I need to be there. Buses aren't great for that kind of work. I take the bus on my pre-booked and contract days when I know where I'm working, I just have a feeling that "well I had to make three transfers" wouldn't make a great excuse to a principal when I was forty minutes late. I long for the day when I can take the bus both ways every day. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's be honest though, BC Transit does not operate adequate service for most people to live a car free life. No service meets or exceeds the speed of a car outside of maybe some downtown trips along the Douglas bus lanes during congestion, and maybe some others with parking factored in. More important is a lack of frequent service for much of the city. In September the 26 became the first and only crosstown route to reach a 15 minute 7am to 7pm standard 7 days a week. The 4 doesn't even reach that with poor weekend service, and summer weekday midday service of 20 minute headways (frequency of the summer 26 is yet to be seen mind you), despite also being denoted as a frequent route. It makes many transfers painful as schedules are rarely lined to meet, which is especially horrendous between infrequent routes that sometimes force you to wait an absurd time that may be longer than biking or driving depending on your destination (Eg going from Latoria rd to Camosun Interurban midday requires either a 40 minute wait at Kelly/Sooke, or a long winded double back track trip to the 50 and 8/9/21) that feels completely unnecessary. If neither route can be frequent, at least line up nice transfers between them.

Also the span of service on major routes isn't exactly ideal. The first UVic bound 4 starts downtown at 7:53am on Sundays. The 50 is the only route that gets downtown before 6am on weekdays. Next up the 14 and 15 getting into downtown right at 6am, but only from 1 direction of service. The 27/28 doesn't even start until 6:51am on Sunday, after 7 towards Gordon Head. And these are the major routes, with the prominent "we're good!" branding. Funnily enough though, the 61 going from Sooke into Langford actually has a 20 hour weekday span from 5am(ish)-1am(ish) which I believe should be the new goal for all major routes even if it's 30 or 60 minute headways after 10pm and from 5 until 6 or 7 . Most local routes would do well with a 6am - 12am span, every day of the week. Currently they exclude access to plenty of low skill jobs by starting too late, and ending too early. The weekday 52 hits somewhat of what the minimum service level should be for anywhere not actually rural, though has space for some improvements. Also the weekend 52 could really use an extra early trip or 2 even if it's hourly or worse. At least it'd allow transit to actually be an option for trips done by transit.

Also mass trip cancellations are still the norm unfortunately. Transit in Greater Victoria sadly doesn't work as well as it could. I know there's physical and financial constraints to immediate expansion, but from all I've seen the planning is less ambitious than I would like it to be. So much can be done with just buses to drive down car dependency and auto mode shares.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, SomeIslandKid said:

Let's be honest though, BC Transit does not operate adequate service for most people to live a car free life. No service meets or exceeds the speed of a car outside of maybe some downtown trips along the Douglas bus lanes during congestion, and maybe some others with parking factored in. More important is a lack of frequent service for much of the city. In September the 26 became the first and only crosstown route to reach a 15 minute 7am to 7pm standard 7 days a week. The 4 doesn't even reach that with poor weekend service, and summer weekday midday service of 20 minute headways (frequency of the summer 26 is yet to be seen mind you), despite also being denoted as a frequent route. It makes many transfers painful as schedules are rarely lined to meet, which is especially horrendous between infrequent routes that sometimes force you to wait an absurd time that may be longer than biking or driving depending on your destination (Eg going from Latoria rd to Camosun Interurban midday requires either a 40 minute wait at Kelly/Sooke, or a long winded double back track trip to the 50 and 8/9/21) that feels completely unnecessary. If neither route can be frequent, at least line up nice transfers between them.

Also the span of service on major routes isn't exactly ideal. The first UVic bound 4 starts downtown at 7:53am on Sundays. The 50 is the only route that gets downtown before 6am on weekdays. Next up the 14 and 15 getting into downtown right at 6am, but only from 1 direction of service. The 27/28 doesn't even start until 6:51am on Sunday, after 7 towards Gordon Head. And these are the major routes, with the prominent "we're good!" branding. Funnily enough though, the 61 going from Sooke into Langford actually has a 20 hour weekday span from 5am(ish)-1am(ish) which I believe should be the new goal for all major routes even if it's 30 or 60 minute headways after 10pm and from 5 until 6 or 7 . Most local routes would do well with a 6am - 12am span, every day of the week. Currently they exclude access to plenty of low skill jobs by starting too late, and ending too early. The weekday 52 hits somewhat of what the minimum service level should be for anywhere not actually rural, though has space for some improvements. Also the weekend 52 could really use an extra early trip or 2 even if it's hourly or worse. At least it'd allow transit to actually be an option for trips done by transit.

Also mass trip cancellations are still the norm unfortunately. Transit in Greater Victoria sadly doesn't work as well as it could. I know there's physical and financial constraints to immediate expansion, but from all I've seen the planning is less ambitious than I would like it to be. So much can be done with just buses to drive down car dependency and auto mode shares.

I don't own a car or drive.... so I have no choice. I have used transit all the time for the past 11 years, and I have seen transit in my area get WORSE over the past 3 years (I have lived in Thetis Heights for 5 years). I used to have service every 40 minutes, now it's 60 minutes. Fortunately buses run pretty early (5:42am) but not very late (10:05 leaving La ex is the last bus). I manage to work just fine, however my workplace is within a 20 minute walk or 8 minute bus trip away. I think all the neighborhood shuttle routes in Langford and Sidney should be 30 minute service at least. I'm sick of how people complain about their bad bus service when they have routes that run every 5 minutes. People in Sooke and Langford have only one bus to go Downtown. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Matt Dunlop said:

I don't own a car or drive.... so I have no choice. I have used transit all the time for the past 11 years, and I have seen transit in my area get WORSE over the past 3 years (I have lived in Thetis Heights for 5 years). I used to have service every 40 minutes, now it's 60 minutes. Fortunately buses run pretty early (5:42am) but not very late (10:05 leaving La ex is the last bus). I manage to work just fine, however my workplace is within a 20 minute walk or 8 minute bus trip away. I think all the neighborhood shuttle routes in Langford and Sidney should be 30 minute service at least. I'm sick of how people complain about their bad bus service when they have routes that run every 5 minutes. People in Sooke and Langford have only one bus to go Downtown. 

I have a much longer commute. From Latoria to UVic. 59/60 - 50 - 26/4 is my daily commute. The problem I had with the summer 4 is that the 59/60 lined up with a 50 timed to maximize the wait for both the 26 and 4, on top of an already hour 15 at best trip. It regularly takes me 1.5 hours 1 way. Latoria was always 60 minute service, with punches of the 54/55 (that are often full), and starts an hour after your service, ends 10 minutes earlier. Service has drastically declined since I started taking transit between September 2017 and April 2018, when transfers to the 39 went from a 10 minute wait, to a 40-50 minute one. More importantly I used to be able to trust that I would make scheduled transfers, but that's increasingly rare. Tonight I needed the last 52 to have a 20 minute walk instead of an hour long one, but the 50 left a whole 5 minutes early from Douglas/Fort. Even risked it to run across Douglas against the signal and the drive won't let me on still, despite being quite early. I am really close to buying a car because more than half of my trips result in having to burden my parents and getting them to pick me up from either Westshore exchange. You're lucky that you only have a 20 minute walk to your work, it takes more than twice that to leave Colwood by bus. I hate it. The 10 minute drive from my house to Colwood exchange takes 35 minutes with a perfectly timed transfer to the 50, more often it's 45 to 50. Those are where my previous points about the 60 came in before too because I need it everyday, and can't trust BC Transit to get me home anymore. It has constantly failed me again and again.

I completely agree they need to be 30 minute service with a far longer span. I was using the frequent routes as an example of how even the highest tier of service isn't quite enough for large segments of the population to live car free when given the choice. They're great at rush hour and during the school year. Westshore local routes though are a mess and needed an overhaul years ago. I wouldn't have been as harsh to the top tier routes if they were the only routes I needed to get to UVic. They'd last me until I graduate. It's the 59/60 and 54 that constantly f*** me over. Sorry to make you sick, my mistake, was not my intent ? I

Want to join me in yelling at politicians about it? Westshore local service is pathetic aside from the weekday 52. It needs to be better as we both agree!

Edit: also my complaint with the 4 is largely due to it being marked as a frequent service route with 7am-7pm weekday service, yet not fulfilling that for 5 months a year between summer and the holidays. Otherwise I wouldn't have really cared to be honest. Slightly hard because it's amazingly frequent during the fall and spring semesters, so it should be shown as such, but it's always a bit of an annoying surprise when I expect it to come within 15 minutes and I have to wait 19 for a transfer on an already over an hour trip and can't choose to leave earlier. Also the 4 is lined up at night to reach Douglas right after a 50 for Langford once service drops to half hourly in the evening. Like the frequency is fine, the lack of thought put into transfers is the overarching problem for me. Love everything about the 26 though! If only I lived near it, I wouldn't really care about the span of core routes. Everything kinda bubbled together with frustration at the local routes and most politicians just brush them off as irrelevant. I wish they didn't push off the 5500 Westshore expansion to Jan 2021. I'm not sure I can still deal with the local buses that much longer. They're already far more stressful than anything UVic's thrown at me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, SomeIslandKid said:

I have a much longer commute. From Latoria to UVic. 59/60 - 50 - 26/4 is my daily commute. The problem I had with the summer 4 is that the 59/60 lined up with a 50 timed to maximize the wait for both the 26 and 4, on top of an already hour 15 at best trip. It regularly takes me 1.5 hours 1 way. Latoria was always 60 minute service, with punches of the 54/55 (that are often full), and starts an hour after your service, ends 10 minutes earlier. Service has drastically declined since I started taking transit between September 2017 and April 2018, when transfers to the 39 went from a 10 minute wait, to a 40-50 minute one. More importantly I used to be able to trust that I would make scheduled transfers, but that's increasingly rare. Tonight I needed the last 52 to have a 20 minute walk instead of an hour long one, but the 50 left a whole 5 minutes early from Douglas/Fort. Even risked it to run across Douglas against the signal and the drive won't let me on still, despite being quite early. I am really close to buying a car because more than half of my trips result in having to burden my parents and getting them to pick me up from either Westshore exchange. You're lucky that you only have a 20 minute walk to your work, it takes more than twice that to leave Colwood by bus. I hate it. The 10 minute drive from my house to Colwood exchange takes 35 minutes with a perfectly timed transfer to the 50, more often it's 45 to 50. Those are where my previous points about the 60 came in before too because I need it everyday, and can't trust BC Transit to get me home anymore. It has constantly failed me again and again.

I completely agree they need to be 30 minute service with a far longer span. I was using the frequent routes as an example of how even the highest tier of service isn't quite enough for large segments of the population to live car free when given the choice. They're great at rush hour and during the school year. Westshore local routes though are a mess and needed an overhaul years ago. I wouldn't have been as harsh to the top tier routes if they were the only routes I needed to get to UVic. They'd last me until I graduate. It's the 59/60 and 54 that constantly f*** me over. Sorry to make you sick, my mistake, was not my intent ? I

Want to join me in yelling at politicians about it? Westshore local service is pathetic aside from the weekday 52. It needs to be better as we both agree!

Edit: also my complaint with the 4 is largely due to it being marked as a frequent service route with 7am-7pm weekday service, yet not fulfilling that for 5 months a year between summer and the holidays. Otherwise I wouldn't have really cared to be honest. Slightly hard because it's amazingly frequent during the fall and spring semesters, so it should be shown as such, but it's always a bit of an annoying surprise when I expect it to come within 15 minutes and I have to wait 19 for a transfer on an already over an hour trip and can't choose to leave earlier. Also the 4 is lined up at night to reach Douglas right after a 50 for Langford once service drops to half hourly in the evening. Like the frequency is fine, the lack of thought put into transfers is the overarching problem for me. Love everything about the 26 though! If only I lived near it, I wouldn't really care about the span of core routes. Everything kinda bubbled together with frustration at the local routes and most politicians just brush them off as irrelevant. I wish they didn't push off the 5500 Westshore expansion to Jan 2021. I'm not sure I can still deal with the local buses that much longer. They're already far more stressful than anything UVic's thrown at me

Latoria to UVic? Well in that case, you'd be better off driving (if you have a car) to Colwood Exchange, parking there for the day, then catching the 39/51 to UVic. If I could drive, I would park at Langford Exchange if I ever had to go Downtown then catch the 50. But luckily my workplace and home are within the same route. 

The Triangle Mountain bus doesn't run late either. My bro lives in Triangle Mountain (Fulton) and I've offered to help him out by looking after his place after work but there isn't a bus that runs past 10:30 up to Triangle Mountain. I had to catch a cab from work. 

It wouldn't kill transit to run the local shuttles every 30 minutes. They may actually get MORE ridership. The local East Sooke shuttle should also have an extra bus, in the event of a breakdown, and to increase service. 63/64 out there run every 2 hours roughly. Maybe on weekends, they can make the local shuttles run every hour or whatever when there's less ridership. As it is today, my local bus on Sunday runs every 2 hours... 

Unfortunately in my case, Stew Young doesn't really care about transit so much. I mean, at least he cares about infrastructure but not really about transit. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I've discovered that one of the timetables UVIC has possession of has two significant landmarks for Gordon Head's transit history, as well as a mystery that I would like help solving. 1975 marks the first run of the 26, the first crosstown bus outside the city core, as well as the beginning of the 27/28 route as we know it today, albeit with pretty weird numbers (927/928/28). The mystery I want to solve is where did the "new" 16 Cadboro Bay route go in 1975? BC Transit sure won't have that information any more, and if they did, they aren't willing to share it (I've asked very politely in the past). 

Iw6KosH.jpg

p53WDaP.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, InfiNorth said:

I've discovered that one of the timetables UVIC has possession of has two significant landmarks for Gordon Head's transit history, as well as a mystery that I would like help solving. 1975 marks the first run of the 26, the first crosstown bus outside the city core, as well as the beginning of the 27/28 route as we know it today, albeit with pretty weird numbers (927/928/28). The mystery I want to solve is where did the "new" 16 Cadboro Bay route go in 1975? BC Transit sure won't have that information any more, and if they did, they aren't willing to share it (I've asked very politely in the past). 

Iw6KosH.jpg

p53WDaP.jpg

The 9 prefix indicated it was an express. There was also a 930 Douglas. 928 is now the 28 Express

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know that, the schedule makes it very clear. My questions primarily focus on what the route of the 26 and the 17 were. The other ones are just me discovering that 1975 was a big year for Gordon Head in terms of transit as we know it today. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Based on the what bus to get to some location page it appears the the 1975 16 covered Arbutus rd into the UVic Exchange, and Cadboro Bay road the the least. No indication if Ten Mile Point was included, but it appears unlikely to have entered downtown based on the lack of it's mention in any downtown location or Royal Jubilee. A route 11 and 14 both reached Royal Jubilee in 1975 according to that list, but only the 14 went to UVic. Presumably the 16 was replaced entirely with an extension of the 11 moving it closer to, if not, its current form. That page makes me think it followed a loop before the 26? Then maybe it became a switchback at Cadboro Bay? Maybe a loop into the Uplands?

Also apparently Vic General had a previous location much closer to downtown, did that end up as Mt St. Mary Hospital? The address 841 doesn't exist anymore but Google Maps places it across the intersection. In front of an apartment building that easily could have been built in the 70s. It just looks too small for it to have replaced a hospital.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's entirely possible the portion of Fairfield Road in front of Saint Mary's used to be Collinson Street, there could have been a realignment of the grid in that area which is why Collinson is a dead end street at that location now, only a 1970s streetmap would solve that for sure though.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just wanted to pass along that there rumours that back-door boarding is permitted as of today to allow for greater social distancing. I'm frankly surprised that BC Transit hasn't implemented a non-UVIC schedule - I am curious why we still have a high frequency and capacity on the 26, 16 and 4. Usually the 16 is suspended when schools are closed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, InfiNorth said:

I just wanted to pass along that there rumours that back-door boarding is permitted as of today to allow for greater social distancing. I'm frankly surprised that BC Transit hasn't implemented a non-UVIC schedule - I am curious why we still have a high frequency and capacity on the 26, 16 and 4. Usually the 16 is suspended when schools are closed.

They're still running regular schedule just in case people on those routes need to get to work, get groceries, go to doctors appointments, etc. And the rear-door loading and unloading is true; I caught a 50 today and the driver opened the rear door and pointed towards the back of the bus. When people entered he yelled out "FREE RIDE". From what I read online, this is going on for 30 days. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, InfiNorth said:

I just wanted to pass along that there rumours that back-door boarding is permitted as of today to allow for greater social distancing. I'm frankly surprised that BC Transit hasn't implemented a non-UVIC schedule - I am curious why we still have a high frequency and capacity on the 26, 16 and 4. Usually the 16 is suspended when schools are closed.

With reduced frequency comes crowding, at least theoretically. Exactly the kind of thing the government is trying to avoid.

That will likely change as manpower becomes scarcer, but that’s a bridge to be crossed when we all get there.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Bus_Medic said:

 

 

25 minutes ago, Matt Dunlop said:

 

That makes good sense. I'm glad BC Transit is treating this well. Perhaps they could be providing masks to their drivers as they probably interact with so many random people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not just a rumour, Victoria and Nanaimo temporarily get fare free 'all' door boarding transit in an unexpected way.

A small part of me wants to go catch a bus cause back door loading would be a cool novelty. The rest of me realizes that's not a good idea during a pandemic in case I'm asymptomatic so I'm not going to unless I absolutely need to. I'll bike the 20km if I need to get that far instead for the next while

 

Edit: How does this work with the D40LFs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Bus_Medic said:

With reduced frequency comes crowding, at least theoretically. Exactly the kind of thing the government is trying to avoid.

That will likely change as manpower becomes scarcer, but that’s a bridge to be crossed when we all get there.

Yes Edmonton tried switching to Saturday schedules and failed miserably due to the crowding

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...