Over the past week, Victoria commuters have been left stranded and puzzled about a large number of BC Transit service delays and cancellations.
Since September 16th, the crown corporation has issued over 100 service disruption notices for Victoria, with 25 cancellations occurring on the morning of Wednesday, September 25th.
See also: BC Transit extended late-night service hours start tonight
In a statement to Victoria Buzz, BC Transit clarified that they have been struggling with an unusual number of buses not being available for service over the past several weekdays.
“We are doing everything we can to mitigate the impact to our customers. We apologize to our riders and appreciate their patience while we work through these challenges,” said a BC Transit spokesperson.
Since the start of this month, the crown corporation has added new trips to meet larger ridership demand that is typical of the month of September.
In the wake of increased scheduled trips, Victoria Buzz reader Suzanne Carvell also expressed concern for bus drivers.
See also: BC Transit launches $6.5 million project to install full driver doors on buses
“Bus drivers are working 10 hour shifts or more – the schedules have been “automated” and are so tight that drivers aren’t getting breaks,” says Carvell.
“If we seriously want to get people out of their cars (and there are way too many single use drivers heading into town) public transportation needs an emergency infusion – stat!”
The crown corporation stated that their service will greatly improve with the addition of eight new heavy-duty buses to the Victoria fleet starting January and throughout 2020.
Thus far in 2019, BC Transit has extended late night service hours for several routes, launched its live bus-tracking system, and announced plans to install full driver doors on all buses by early 2020.
