The new Route 72A will serve early morning and late night arrivals and departures
Photo courtesy of BC Transit.
As of Sept. 8, passengers will be able to travel from downtown Victoria to the airport via the new Route 72A.
The new bus will follow the path of the existing Route 72, between downtown Victoria and Swartz Bay, with an additional stop at Victoria International Airport (YYJ). The route will operate during early mornings and late nights seven days a week, to assist additional service to YYJ.
“Part of this service was driven by a desire to meet the needs of ground staff and flight staff at YYJ,” said Victoria Councillor Jeremy Caradonna, an adjunct professor of environmental studies at UVic, who also serves on the Victoria Regional Transit Commission..
Caradonna said that on an average day, there are at least 10 flights departing between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. from YYJ, which the bus times would accommodate. He acknowledges, however, that this is not a perfect service.
“Having a limited service is better than no service,” said Caradonna in an interview with the Martlet. “It makes it easier to expand the service over time.”
The current ridership to and from YYJ is less than 100 boardings per day, said Levi Megenbir, manager of service planning for the Victoria Regional Transit System.
A desire for improved service to the airport is something the Transit Commission has heard for many years, Megenbir said, but “the reason why we haven’t been able to accommodate more direct service to the airport is [because] it’s a resource challenge.”
Caradonna said that the solution the Transit Commission came up with was to find resources, such as using the double-decker buses “strategically.”
In terms of luggage space on buses, Megenbir said he was aware of a demand for more storage on buses for personal belongings. It is something that the Transit Commission will explore going forward, he said.
Hannah Tas, a chemistry student at UVic, said she doesn’t bother taking the bus if she is traveling with more than a carry-on.
“If I have more luggage then I don’t take the bus,” said Tas. “You’re holding a bunch of things, and it’s so awkward.”
Megendir said that students were a part of the conversation, and they also took part in the Victoria Regional Transit Plan, which he describes as “an extremely ambitious plan.”
Within the plan, the Transit Commission has asked Victoria Regional Transit to achieve a target of 15 per cent transit mode share (the percentage of people using a given mode of transportation). Currently, the transit mode share is between 6 and 7 per cent, Megenbir said.
The plan asked a question regarding the key regional destinations BC Transit should improve connections to. About 20.7 per cent of respondents identified the airport as one such connection, following UVic and Swartz Bay as first and second in the priority list, respectively.
“Specifically from a student perspective, it was the third priority for improved regional connections,” said Megenbir.
He also said that this new route reduces the number of connections for UVic students, as they can now go downtown and take Route 72A from there.
“Moving forward into the future, we can certainly look at other options to meet the broader community’s needs in terms of regional transit travel and service options,” he said.
