The route for the Squamish-Whistler commuter bus that is scheduled to continue through March 31 will remain unchanged, in spite of a Whistler council vote late last year requesting that it be altered to eliminate the portion that goes through Valleycliffe.
B.C. Transit spokesperson Joanna Linsangan on Tuesday (Jan. 11) said representatives for the three service partners - Whistler, Squamish and B.C. Transit - met after the Nov. 16 Whistler council meeting and eventually it was decided that the Valleycliffe portion of the route would be retained.
"I don't have an answer to your question about how much it costs, but in terms of changing the route itself, it will remain unchanged straight through until March 31," Linsangan said.
For the past five years, the Squamish-Whistler commuter has been operated by B.C. Transit and the two municipal governments. Late last year, though, Whistler council members began to express reluctance to continue with the arrangement, partly because Whistler does not contribute toward the operation of a similar service linking Whistler, Pemberton and Mount Currie and partly because they felt Whistlerites were not gaining sufficient benefit from the service.
Some disagreed, saying a significant portion of the riders were using the service to access shopping and other services in Squamish.
At the Nov. 16 meeting, Whistler lawmakers voted to allocate $30,000 from a municipal parking reserve fund to continue with the service through March 31, 2011. They also voted to request that the service be more of a town-to-town connector, eliminating the Valleycliffe portion of the route.
At the time, Emma Dal Santo, traffic demand management coordinator with the Resort Municipality of Whistler, estimated in a report to council that elimination of the Valleycliffe leg would affect about one-third of the riders.
On Dec. 21, B.C. Transit issued a brief notice stating, "The No. 98 Squamish Commuter route and schedule remains unchanged until March 31, 2011."
Squamish Mayor Greg Gardner, who in November advised those who use the service "to start thinking about alternate arrangements," last week said that while he wasn't part of those discussions, "The reality is that Whistler doesn't dictate unilaterally what happens with transit within the corridor and my understanding is that it was a B.C. Transit decision to continue with that portion of the service."
Dal Santo told The Chief last week that Whistler council's Nov. 16 vote led to further discussions among the partners that resulted in the decision to retain the Valleycliffe leg. She said the cost of providing the service is higher than what Whistler council approved, but she declined to say how much higher.
She added that Greyhound, which makes six runs per day in each direction, is regarded as the primary service linking Squamish and Whistler and that the Squamish Commuter's intent was to fill the gaps during time slots not served by Greyhound.
Dal Santo stressed that the three public transit partners are "working towards a long-term solution for regional transit in the corridor." In addition to a desire to provide the Squamish-Whistler commuter service, Pemberton Valley officials are seeking expanded community-to-community bus service, she said.
Last fall, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) board, which over the past two years has received some $1.9 million in grants for transit infrastructure, voted to seek input from corridor residents on the future of regional transit and how the service might be funded - perhaps including the introduction of a corridor-wide gasoline tax.
