The “rush to the bus” at Langdale terminal following busy ferry arrivals may soon be a thing of the past.
As of mid-June, a Sunshine Coast Transit (SCT) “overload bus” will back up existing service on Route 90 on weekends and holidays. That second bus will be dispatched to Langdale to meet ferry sailings popular with walk-on travellers; providing more passenger seats.
The change is thanks to an additional 800 hours of transit service being funded this year.
BC Transit (BCT) and Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) staff updated lower Sunshine Coast local government elected officials on transit performance and priorities, May 29. It was the first-ever intergovernmental briefing of its kind. Well-received, representatives of the rural regional areas, the shíshálh Nation, District of Sechelt and Town of Gibsons indicated such Coast-wide information exchange sessions should happen regularly.
What’s happening and planned
Along with those 800 extra hours in 2025, an additional bus for the local fleet is expected to arrive by January, assigned to make existing route services more “reliable and consistent," staff outlined. When it arrives, weekday Route 90 (the Sechelt/Langdale Express) service is slated to move to every 30 minutes, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
On the custom transit (handyDART) side, local service is gaining one vehicle and 2,900 service hours in 2026 to add peak capacity on weekdays and weekends.
If shared funding is approved by both the SCRD and the province, in 2026 or 2027, plans are to increase Route 2 (West Sechelt) service. Buses could then be scheduled on that circuit every 60 minutes, Mondays through Saturdays, with service at 30-minute intervals at peak times, to address what BCT reps assessed as “rapidly increasing ridership” on that route. They pointed out Route 2’s “rides per hours of service offered” almost doubled between 2022 and 2024, going from 13 to 24.
Introduction of Route 5, a local service connecting upper and lower Gibsons, is proposed for that same timeframe. With Route 2 changes and the new intra-Gibsons service, adjustments to Route 1 (Sechelt/Langdale) service will also be examined.
Looking at proposals for the 2027/28 fiscal year, more frequent services on multiple runs and adjusting Route 2 to a circular traffic flow are being considered.
To achieve those changes, transit garage and yard enhancements will be needed, according to SCRD community services manager Shelley Gagnon. She noted the SCRD board received a report on that and a more urgent requirement for a secondary bus parking site, in December. The land parcel of one to two acres is needed, ideally by next year, to allow transit vehicles to move to that temporary site, leaving the Mason Road site for other SCRD operations. An expanded yard/garage site to create a long-term base for transit would require about five acres of land and about $45 million to build.
She stated planning efforts related to both projects, including research into grant funding, are under way. Her phone, she said, was “ringing off the hook” with inquiries related to opportunities around those two projects after media coverage of the December 2024 report.
Also on the horizon for SCT will be new passenger exchanges in both Sechelt and Gibsons. In Sechelt, the current Cowrie Street exchange (adjacent to Trail Bay Mall) is frequently impacted by road closures for community events, so relocation would make service continuity easier. With the addition of Route 5 for Gibsons, an expanded passenger waiting and transfer area would be required.
'I have a dream': Coun. Darren Inkster
The meeting opened with SCRD board chair and Sechelt councillor, Alton Toth, who was chairing the meeting, asking the gathered elected councillors and directors to share their “best experience on public transit."
His council and board counterpart Darren Inkster opted to share his transit “dream." That involves being able to board local transit near his home using contactless payment, travel to Langdale to take the ferry and then use Translink services via virtual fare payment to get to YVR for a flight.
“I have been living Director Inkster’s dream,” Area D (Roberts Creek) director Kelly Backs told the group. He described travel from his Coast home to Whitehorse, YT, last year using the services described and said “it was quite seamless."
Area B (Halfmoon Bay) director Justine Gabias said that as someone who does not own a vehicle, she was also living Inkster’s “transit dream." She cheerily offered that she refers to local buses as the “public limousine”; chauffeured to her destination by friendly drivers who greet her by name.
Rob Ringma, a BCT representative at the event, applauded those and the other predominantly positive views of transit shared by the elected officials. He suggested he might also start using the “public limousine” reference for buses as well.
Other local service asks and aspirations
Sechelt mayor and long-time supporter of innovation in local government John Henderson asked if autonomous vehicle technology is on BCT’s radar. He said it is available and his call was for his colleagues to “embrace it. Let’s be the first."
Ringma responded that “not a lot of work is being done” in that area by BCT, with the current innovation focus being on fleet electrification but that he would raise the suggestion of interest in that technology with his team.
Making local buses more cyclist-friendly, with rack room for more than two bikes, was something Area E (Elphinstone) director Donna McMahon requested.
“This topic comes up more and more,” Ringma said, noting it is an issue in many B.C. communities. He said there is limited front-end space on buses for bike racks and that options for racks on the rear are being explored. “We recognize and are trying to develop active transportation options in conjunction with transit,” he said.
With more residents and visitors to the area using transit for trips that may span multiple days, Sechelt Coun. Dianne McLaughlan suggested more options for carrying luggage should be investigated.
One of the major concerns with local transit voiced by Nation lhe hiwus yalxwemult (Lenora Joe) was safety for vulnerable people using the system and waiting at stops. Her view was that, along with more frequent and on-time buses, lighting and other safety features should be added at bus stops.
Gagnon explained that local transit infrastructure was a regional government responsibility and that the need for bus stop improvements has been identified. “We are very aware, we want to get a framework of what we want and what is sustainable," she said, noting that due to other priorities within the system, “we haven’t got there yet."
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that handyDART was adding 550 hours in 2025 –– those previously announced hours were added in 2024. We regret the error.
