qathet Regional District (qRD) directors have approved the 2025 –2026 BC Transit annual operating budget
At the June 25 board meeting, directors authorized the required budget to be signed. According to a staff report, total cost to the regional district for the 2025 calendar year is $189,515.
Also at the board meeting, BC Transit government relations senior manager Rob Ringma appeared before directors to provide a transit update.
“This year, we had unprecedented demand,” said Ringma. “Pre-COVID-19, we were getting about 60,000 hours in requests each year from local governments. We’ve seen that jump to around 200,000 hours annually. That’s a combination of local governments recognizing the importance of transit to their communities, some of the environmental benefits that transit can provide, and an uptick in transit usage in general. It’s a healthy and good thing but it puts a strain on the provincial government when it comes to allocation of resources.”
Ringma said last year, BC Transit was unable to progress qRD’s expansion item for an additional day’s service to Texada Island, but said he was happy to announce there is approval for the additional bus resource.
“We’ve talked about this initiative in years past, so we’re really happy,” said Ringma. “Because there is a vehicle required, the earliest we can implement this is January 2026.”
Ringma said the good news about having the additional bus is the potential expansion of service in the future.
“It unlocks some opportunity for additional service expansion,” said Ringma. “With the bus fleet we have, we can’t operate routes 12 and 14 on Thursdays when we go to Texada. By having another bus added to the fleet, we can look at opportunities for increasing frequency and service on all the other routes in future years, in addition to Texada.”
The additional service to Texada will be on Tuesdays.
Ringma said BC Transit is going to sharpen its pencils and come up with some different options for expansions next year. He said a transit service review is currently being worked on. The key goal is to develop a cohesive plan for the region, taking into account the needs of City of Powell River, qRD and the rural paratransit system.
“There’s been a lot of great work done and some studies, including the qRD doing an on-demand study,” said Ringma. “This plan review tries to bring it all together and look at transit holistically in the region.
“We want to engage with the community and stakeholders, so we do have a working group that includes staff from the regional district, as well as the city and Tla’amin, with the goal of identifying service and infrastructure improvements that we may be able to deliver to the region.”
Ringma said BC Transit is planning to come back to qRD and the city with a fulsome presentation on the results and options developed through the service review, so local governments can be fully informed.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne asked Ringma about intercity transportation.
“We have challenges with folks trying to get down to Vancouver,” said Gisborne. “Is there anything in the service review about having a more stable connection with the Lower Mainland?”
Ringma said inter-regional travel is a hot topic, including connecting First Nations communities. He said there has been examination of inter-region options, but it’s not at the forefront, because of the amount of work and opportunity that exists within the local transit system.
“There’s been a lot of discussion and debate regarding inter-regional service,” said Ringma. “One of the key pieces that would bring that together is the funding and governance through the local government partners – trying to figure out a way to fund that service as it crosses inter-regional borders. That conversation needs to continue for us to progress.”
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