‘Several transit expansions’ coming to Squamish in 2026

A transit expansion is on the way for Squamish, four months after BC Transit announced land had been purchased for a new operations and maintenance facility in town.

At a special council meeting on April 22, BC Transit senior government relations manager, Rob Ringma, told councillors that “several transit expansions” were confirmed for 2026. 

“I was fortunate enough to send the District a letter last week … that actually confirmed several transit expansions for the District of Squamish,” Ringma said.

“This council knows these all too well, because you've been pitching these expansions for multiple years. [The expansions] would be to add frequency to Route 1 and 2. So that's over 2,000 hours.

“Two medium duty buses to improve our oceanfront service and south Squamish service, which is another 2,800 hours and two light duty buses; and then also some off-peak improvements for Route 3, which is another 2,000 hours.”

While council was hoping to have the expansions up and ready by this summer, Ringma said it wouldn’t be likely to occur until 2026.

“Because it involves new vehicle procurement, we're kind of stuck to our procurement cycles, which, unfortunately, right now are slated for January [2026],” he said.

“Unfortunately, not an ideal time for some of the great transit services that we want to provide for the summer. But at the end of the day, we've got the expansion. We'll work with the District to make sure we implement the best service that we can for that area with the hours and the buses that we have, and then next summer, we'll be good to go.”

Ringma said BC Transit has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the District and also has the support from the provincial government, which will match the funding for the expansion.

He also said that the expansion would put more pressure on the District’s current transit facility which is “nearing parking capacity.”.

“So it really makes the work that we're doing [with the new operations and maintenance facility] quite relevant and quite important,” Ringma said.

The new facility

On Jan 7, BC Transit revealed in a letter to the District that they had purchased a site for the new operations and maintenance facility.

While no date was provided at the April 22 meeting for when the new facility would be completed, BC Transit project manager Timothy Noordam did say that the site was “wonderful.”

“We found ourselves a five acre site, and we're looking at building out with the appropriate level of maintenance space, storage administration … the ability to wash buses, ideally not by hand, and some ... charging equipment, parking for employees and customers, and trying to keep it as green and clean as possible,” he said.

“This is a wonderful flat piece of land … about as ideal as you could ask for. It was reviewed and purchased, finally in October of 2023, and it is now called 1090 Transit Place [it was originally 1130 Resolution Way].” 

Noordam said that the facility design will be modelled after other BC Transit sites.

“We will be reviewing similar sites such as Campbell River and Cowichan Valley, as well as up in Whistler, and just take a good look at those sites and all the services they provide and how they would situate themselves well in the land area that has been provided here,” he said.

“Once that's done, we'll have some concept designs, and we'll be working closely with the District of Squamish's team here to discover what the best possible solution would be to present later, in order to give options of costing and scheduling that could drive us in the direction that we're looking to go. 

Noordam noted that one issue they are currently working with is the FortisBC pipeline construction, which is in close proximity to the site. 

“Something to comment here is FortisBC, as many of you are probably aware, is driving the pipeline through Squamish, and that does impact the current property,” he said.

“That is under negotiations right now between FortisBC and BC Transit, and that will be running on the south side of the property. The impact of that will be determined in the near future and will be shared once that becomes present.”

Council comment

All councillors in attendance appeared thrilled to hear of the service expansions being approved.

Both councillors, John French and Andrew Hamilton, gave the same, short but sweet comments of “Let's make it happen!”

Mayor Armand Hurford said he was happy to hear of the expansion and hopes the District can maximize their current transit services in the meantime.  

“Thank you for the foreshadowing of the expansions that are coming for us. We collectively have been pushing for them for a long time, so I'm happy to hear that that's advanced,” he said.

“Of course, we'd have liked to have had them two years ago. So the timeline of implementation is challenging, but I know that we'll work to maximize what we can in the interim while that procurement piece runs its course.”

For more information on transit in Squamish, visit the BC Transit website.