A new grant has been announced by the BC provincial government to support inter-city bus services and medical evacuation needs through regional airports.
In an announcement by Premier John Horgan, the province said it is providing one-time funding of up to $10.7 million for inter-city bus operators and up to $16.5 million for regional airports to support operations between April 1st, and March 31nd, 2022.
“Applications open today and we are reaching out to the 57 regional airports and reaching out to the companies that are typically non profit or municipally owned,” said Minister of Transportation, Rob Fleming.
In the past year, the industry has experienced a significant decrease in ridership, affecting revenues.
This funding will help companies maintain service over the next year which builds on additional financial support provided by the Province to the transportation sector.
“With the announcement of this grant, I am pleased to say we will be looking at restarting services in the coming weeks to ensure Vancouver Island once again has the connectivity that so many members of our communities need,” said John Wilson, president and CEO, Wilson’s Group of Companies.
The Vancouver Island Connector, was initially expected to return to service on February 12th but was suspended due to provincial health orders.
Samantha Wilson, an executive assistant with Wilson’s Group of Companies, said in a statement to Victoria Buzz that they are working to open all of their inter-city bus services by the beginning of April, with an emphasis on the Tofino Vancouver Island Connector.
“We are working to begin opening services, in some capacity, by the beginning of April. While it won’t be a full schedule which we are used to [pre-pandemic], we will work with the Ministry of Transportation to deem what is an essential service for operating,” said Wilson.
While the funding is a boost for the industry, questions over how services will meet the demand when services come back are still looming.
“[…] with air travel at a standstill, revenues have hit rock bottom, while high costs for maintenance have remained. When air travel comes back, it will come back as a tsunami. We encourage further funding and flexible assistance to ride that wave in the future,” said Heather Bell, chair, BC Aviation Council.
Since the pandemic began almost a year ago, regional airports have been instrumental in providing services to remote BC communities and Indigenous communities.
“Were it not for these services, massive parts of BC would have been in need,” said Premier John Horgan.
