Victoria’s main source of public transport has just made an announcement about changes to some of its service routes.
January 2nd will bring with it some alterations to BC Transit’s services – besides the implementation of their annual winter service schedule – that will primarily affect the James Bay and the Tsawout First Nation.
Here’s what’s going to happen:
- Route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown will provide service to Fisherman’s Wharf and Five Corners (Menzies Street and Simcoe Street) before connecting to downtown Victoria and continuing to Oak Bay.
- Route 3 Beacon Hill/Gonzales will expand to turn north onto Foul Bay Rd, connecting with the Royal Jubilee Hospital, where it will continue as Route 10 Royal Jubilee/Songhees to Vic West.
- Route 7 UVic/Downtown and route 21 Camosun Interurban/Downtown are now connected removing the need to change buses on select trips.
- Route 19 Hillside Mall, which provided service from James Bay to Hillside Mall, will be discontinued and replaced by the expanded route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown.
- Routes 27 Gordon Head/Downtown and 28 Majestic/Downtown will now terminate at the Blanshard Terminus in downtown, and no longer circulate through James Bay. The route will be replaced by the route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown.
- Routes 30 Royal Oak Exchange/ Beacon Hill/ James Bay and 31 Royal Oak Exchange/James Bay will now terminate at the Legislature Terminus, and no longer circulate through James Bay. The route will be replaced by the route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown.
- Route 50 Langford Exchange will start earlier on Saturday and Sunday.
- Route 61 Sooke will have three extra round trips added creating hourly service from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will start earlier on Saturdays and Sundays.
- Route 82 Sidney will be expanded to better serve the Tsawout First Nations community.
The communities most affected by these changes have approved them
The service changes to BC Transit bus routes listed above were made in collaboration with the James Bay community, the Tsawout First Nation, and the District of Central Saanich in the fall of 2016.
The company will have staff on hand at the main bus stops affected by the route alterations to explain them to people during the first week of January.
