BC Transit - South Okanagan and Similkameen Transit System

[Blue Bus Fan]

Route 40 Osoyoos to Penticton is expanding to five days from Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays:

https://bctransit.com/south-okanagan-similkameen/news/article?nid=1403648206487

 

[InfiNorth]

Hey, I know this particular thread is dead but I was hoping someone might be able to tell me where the bus stop in Princeton is for the 50. BC Transit makes it really clear where all the other stops are, but provides no information for Princeton itself. 

[Articulated]

9 minutes ago, InfiNorth said:

Hey, I know this particular thread is dead but I was hoping someone might be able to tell me where the bus stop in Princeton is for the 50. BC Transit makes it really clear where all the other stops are, but provides no information for Princeton itself. 

There is an on-request, curb-to-curb service in Princeton that operates before/after the route 50 trip. I suspect that people boarding in Princeton call to request a pickup rather than meet at a set location like in other communities.

[InfiNorth]

On 10/25/2019 at 5:30 PM, Articulated said:

boarding in Princeton call to request a pickup

That is the furthest I can get with the website. Since I plan on using the service this coming Summer I guess I'll just have to call and find out. The curb-to-curb thing isn't specifically listed at the time you've mentioned, though paratransit is available according to the website. Do you have a source on the scheduling of the paratransit in Princeton? I'd love to know more about this.

[Articulated]

8 minutes ago, InfiNorth said:

Do you have a source on the scheduling of the paratransit in Princeton? I'd love to know more about this.

I do not have any source - this is just based on my best guess with the information on the website. Buses start and end in Princeton, which makes it easier to do local pickups. Of course, with small communities like this, most of the riders are "regulars" who probably already know where the pickup point is, so they don't necessarily need it published... found that out in a few different small communities, with people waiting for "unscheduled" trips not shown on the website.

Calling would probably be the safest option, at least to guarantee your seat. If you do take the bus this summer, I would appreciate hearing more about the service!

[Busmanic92]

https://www.bctransit.com/south-okanagan-similkameen/schedules-and-maps/health-connections/princeton-penticton

[InfiNorth]

12 hours ago, Busmanic92 said:

https://www.bctransit.com/south-okanagan-similkameen/schedules-and-maps/health-connections/princeton-penticton

Not sure why you posted this, other than this health connections route is one of the most illogical in the province seeing as it operates on the same three days of the week as the standard service operates, only one half hour later. Even has the same inbound/outbound scheduling layout. You'll notice that in "location" column for Princeton there is nothing specified. I also just noticed that BC Transit hasn't updated the schedule information for 50 Princeton/Penticton since at least October 2018 as it still says "Greyhound/NAPA" as its Keremeos stop location.

[InfiNorth]

https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/new-bus-route-coming-through-penticton-in-the-new-year/

Peachland is being added to the 70 Kelowna route- I genuinely believe that at this point, everything Vernon down to the USA border needs to be one system. Too much overlap where service stretches really far into the service area of other buses - there's the connector service to UBCO from Vernon, and there's the 70 to Kelowna that operates Monday to Friday. I really don't understand why the West Kootenays are amalgamated but Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton are not. I mean, save can be said for the island corridor as well, along with the separation of the Chilliwack, and Abbotsford systems. Things need to be centralized as service gets broader and broader. 

[Iron]

The way I look at it, that's exactly what BC Transit is working toward. A single system spanning from Salmon Arm to Osoyoos. The first step was creating the South Okanagan-Similkameen Transit System. Kelowna, Vernon & Salmon Arm are already under the same contract, which First currently holds. Because you're right, you could technically take a bus from Salmon Arm to Osoyoos, but it requires multiple transfers. 

Salmon Arm to Enderby, Enderby to Vernon, Vernon to UBCO, UBCO to Kelowna @ Queensway, Queensway to Penticton & Penticton to Osoyoos. So six transfers in total and it would be far from a straight forward process. Plus it would only be possible once a week as Route 11 out of Salmon Arm only runs twice every Wednesday. 

There is already a push by the ATU in Kelowna for a single system for the valley. 

With that in mind, I'm a firm believer that one day we'll see a system similar to Translink in the Okanagan. 

[InfiNorth]

42 minutes ago, Iron said:

The way I look at it, that's exactly what BC Transit is working toward. A single system spanning from Salmon Arm to Osoyoos. The first step was creating the South Okanagan-Similkameen Transit System. Kelowna, Vernon & Salmon Arm are already under the same contract, which First currently holds. Because you're right, you could technically take a bus from Salmon Arm to Osoyoos, but it requires multiple transfers. 

Salmon Arm to Enderby, Enderby to Vernon, Vernon to UBCO, UBCO to Kelowna @ Queensway, Queensway to Penticton & Penticton to Osoyoos. So six transfers in total and it would be far from a straight forward process. Plus it would only be possible once a week as Route 11 out of Salmon Arm only runs twice every Wednesday. 

There is already a push by the ATU in Kelowna for a single system for the valley. 

With that in mind, I'm a firm believer that one day we'll see a system similar to Translink in the Okanagan. 

Add in all the Health Connections routes and it would be a very robust intercity system like the West Kootenays. I would say that other than Victoria/Duncan/Nanaimo, it's the next most logical group of currently (theoretically) separate systems to incorporate.

[RZ350]

22 hours ago, InfiNorth said:

https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/new-bus-route-coming-through-penticton-in-the-new-year/

Peachland is being added to the 70 Kelowna route- I genuinely believe that at this point, everything Vernon down to the USA border needs to be one system. Too much overlap where service stretches really far into the service area of other buses - there's the connector service to UBCO from Vernon, and there's the 70 to Kelowna that operates Monday to Friday. I really don't understand why the West Kootenays are amalgamated but Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton are not. I mean, save can be said for the island corridor as well, along with the separation of the Chilliwack, and Abbotsford systems. Things need to be centralized as service gets broader and broader. 

For all intents and purposes the Separation between Chilliwack and CFV is mainly political. In fact it's actually 5 separate services.

Agassiz - Harrison

CFV

Chilliwack

Fraser Valley Express

Hope.

There may be political issues present in the Okanagan as well? I'm not familiar with the potential issues.

[Iron]

4 hours ago, RZ350 said:

There may be political issues present in the Okanagan as well? I'm not familiar with the potential issues.

A similar situation for sure. For example, technically there are two systems running in Vernon, but its only on paper. Vernon Regional Transit & North Okanagan Regional Transit. Its all run as one, but truthfully routes 2 - 9 are under Vernon, route 1 is under Coldstream and routes 60, 61 & 90 are under the Regional District of North Okanagan. But funding comes from multiple places. This is why replacing the route 60 bus took so long back in 2015. Because funding for said bus comes from 6(?) different governments. It took them forever to finally settle on something, and it turned out to be the exact POS they had before, just newer. 

This is also why simply swapping buses to a route they're not run on normally can be an issue. Vernon used to run our Novas inside the city for example, but the regional district put their foot down fairly quickly as they pay for those buses to be on the road. 

Of course this is the very reason why a single body in the Okanagan would be so beneficial. The back and forth, the lack of working together, etc are only hurting the systems, drivers and riders. 

[InfiNorth]

15 hours ago, Iron said:

Vernon used to run our Novas inside the city for example, but the regional district put their foot down fairly quickly as they pay for those buses to be on the road. 

Whose Novas were Vernon commandeering? Sorry, I'm not familiar with which system you drive in. Cheers. 

[Iron]

3 hours ago, InfiNorth said:

Whose Novas were Vernon commandeering? Sorry, I'm not familiar with which system you drive in. Cheers. 

Ours. The Novas, the International and community Arbocs are paid for by the Regional District. They have told us that we can not use these buses for city runs. Even though truthfully the way our runs are built contradict this. But regardless, they're fairly anal about it. 

Even though I did a few 90's a few weeks ago with a Vicinity. 9273 is off having a new engine and transmission put in so when a Nova goes down a Vicinity is the only option. Rules are made to be broken I guess. lol

[9924]

God forbid if Penticton buses go on the same radio frequency as Kelowna