Parkbus will be back next summer.
The not-for-profit transportation initiative ran a pilot project in the Sea to Sky Corridor last summer offering three bus routes from Vancouver to provincial parks in Squamish.
By all accounts the project was a resounding success.
“It worked really well,” said Alex Berlyand, co-founder of Parkbus. “We were a little bit surprised… we had full buses.”
Parkbus routes to Garibaldi, Alice Lake, Shannon Falls and Stawamus Chief Provincial Parks from Vancouver will be revived next summer and a route to Joffre Lakes will likely be added, according to Berlyand, though exact dates and times are still to be determined.
The idea behind the initiative is to get cars off the road and out of the parking lots that access these outdoor recreation hotspots, Berlyand said.
To provide the service, Parkbus has partnered with BC Parks, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) and Better Environmentally Sound Transportation, a not-for-profit charity that works to promote sustainable transportation.
The organization has run a similar initiative in Ontario for six years.
Berlyand said increasingly riders of Parkbus have been not just the experienced campers, hikers and climbers that organizers had expected, but people who had rarely, if ever, accessed the parks. Therefore, with the expanded routes next summer, Berlyand hopes to offer a more guided experience for those who want it.
“It could be more of a stepping stone,” he said. “So if they go somewhere, say on a day trip, they have tried Alice Lake and maybe they liked it but now they want to go on a longer type of hike but they don’t know how to begin, that could be their next step down that path.”
Coun. Susan Chapelle, long a local transit advocate, calls Parkbus “a fantastic, private initiative.”
“Looking at what it has brought to Toronto, accessibility to the outdoor parks without the need to own a car… With Parkbus, people will be able to come up the corridor and climb for a day, then return without causing highway congestion and congestion in Squamish.”
Chapelle said she would like to see the District of Squamish partner with such initiatives in the future.
“We need to be collaborating with any public transportation option that doesn’t cost the taxpayer funds and reduces the need for parking and congestion,” she said.
For more on the project go to parkbus.ca/vancouver.
