Work continues on transportation issue in Powell River

Efforts continue to be made to create bus transportation between the Powell River region and the Lower Mainland.

At the qathet Regional District (qRD) board meeting and City of Powell River committee of the whole meeting, councillor George Doubt reported on the C3 meeting, attended by the regional district, city and Tla’amin Nation on February 27. Speaking at the qRD board meeting on February 27, Doubt said the C3 meeting is scheduled quarterly to discuss common issues.

He said one of the things that occurred at the most recent meeting, held that day, was to talk about moving forward on a transportation vision.

“In order to move forward on that dream of transportation, for example, from Lund to the Vancouver International Airport, to connect people up and down the coast, we must get the local governments onside,” said Doubt. “The three local governments that were meeting today, and the ones on the southern Sunshine Coast, including the regional district, municipal governments and first nations down there, can get together and speak with one voice to other groups, such as BC Transit and BC Ferries.”

Doubt said the initiative would try to make steps toward turning that vision into a reality.

“We had a commitment today from the Tla’amin folks who were at the meeting, to take the ideas to their executive council and see if they will buy in to being part of that process,” said Doubt. “It is an important step and it will move us forward.”

Doubt said there are plans to have a joint meeting with Sunshine Coast Regional District to try to get everybody together and start moving forward.

“It’s easy to say and it would be nice to establish a common vision and a common plan, but when you talk about this many different individuals and governments, it’s not so easy to do,” said Doubt. “It takes time but we made progress today. I’m pretty excited about that. I think others are happy with it as well.”

In an interview, regional district chair Patrick Brabazon said there will be a meeting with Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors in early April where the matter of transportation will be discussed. While SCRD directors will likely have their own initiatives and agenda items, the main focus for the qRD will be the transportation matter.

“Ours is how we move forward on this transportation to the Lower Mainland,” said Brabazon.

Success will require cooperation between the two regional districts, BC Ferries and BC Transit, said Brabazon. He added that the gains will likely be incremental.

“We are going to do what we can,” said Brabazon. “I’m not going for an all or nothing solution. I don’t expect an express bus running from Lund to Vancouver airport tomorrow. I’m hoping to gain incremental improvement, so we’ll gradually make our way down there.”

Brabazon said transportation along the Sunshine Coast corridor is a big item for him.