With less than one month until the return of the Queen of Capilano and the official end to the lifespan of the “Super Bus” that shuttles commuters to downtown and back, Bowen Island’s municipal transportation committee (BIMTAC) has struck up a special action group to work on finding away to have the service extended. TAG! (Transportation Action Group) is made up of Councillor Melanie Mason, as well as Richard Smith and David Hocking.
Hocking says his motivation for this is both personal, and stems from a long-held belief that such a service is critically important for Bowen Island.
“There’s no question I’ve been taking the bus because the bus is timed to the ferry and saves me time on my commute, but also, I’ve been talking about this for a long time. When I was on the municipal sustainability committee, which was set up by the first council, we hired the Pembina institute to do a GHG emissions report and found that by far the highest emissions source results from trips made off the island. And when I ran for council 9 years ago, getting a service like this going was one of my campaign promises so… seeing this actually happen is something like a dream come true for me.”
Hocking says that the bus is currently considered to be a pilot project.
“We need time to build up ridership. Our goal is to keep the service running until we can get the level of ridership that is needed in order to make it sustainable,” he says.
TAG! Member Richard Smith sites similar reasons (a more convenient commute for himself, but also the island’s sustainability) as Hocking for his motivation for joining this action group. He is working on figuring out what needs to happen in order for the bus to run as a business.
“First of all, we do need to see the ridership go up. The average number of riders per day is about 110 at this point, and seeing 130 people per day on the bus is the goal,” says Smith. “Also, it would be really helpful if BC Ferries would offer the bus the Experience Card rate at the equivalent what 1.5 cars would pay. The bus is several feet longer than that, but if we could get that rate, it would make a huge difference.”
Smith adds that assured loading for the bus is critical for making the service work, as is permission from TransLink to operate within its service zone.
TAG! Made a request to Mayor Murray Skeels to send an email to both TransLink and BC Ferries asking for meetings on this subject, a request which he has already fulfilled.
Staff have already entered into discussions with TransLink, and members of TAG! say they are optimistic that a meeting with BC Ferries will be on booked in the very near future.
