EDITOR,
Salt Spring Island has public transit. In June they initiated route No. 6 and service every day of the year.
Lions Bay has 15 to 19 buses per weekday, connecting with Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver and Vancouver.
The Sunshine Coast has 24 buses per day connecting Sechelt, Gibsons and Langdale. Route No. 4 makes 10 trips each day between Sechelt and Halfmoon Bay.
Whistler is facing reductions in service levels. Squamish is uncertain what direction to take. Transit between Squamish and Whistler may end in September. We're doing something wrong.
The Squamish Commuter and the Pemberton Commuter can be the beginning of a regional transit system. Both are struggling and the Squamish Commuter's fate looks bleak after September. Communities need to take the initiative.
B.C. Transit created a survey for transit service in Squamish, between Squamish and Whistler and between Squamish and Metro Vancouver. It is buried in their website and no press release was issued. It was not mentioned in the papers. It is not mentioned on municipal or SLRD websites.
The end of the survey is July 15. I wonder how many responses they got.
Would we get better results if the SLRD and municipalities were to extend the survey? What if they notified the papers, radio and TV? What if they posted it on their websites? What if there were volunteers at grocery stores and other popular locations to remind people and ask their opinions?
Municipalities have allowed B.C. Transit to be the leader and have failed to take an active role in their own transit. Many only become involved with transit when they review it as an annual budget item.
Communities and the people in them need to become involved in their own transit systems. B.C. Transit needs to be viewed as a resource, to be used by municipalities to achieve transit goals. The initiative needs to come from us.
Municipalities need to understand and promote their own transit and work with the SLRD to bring about service within our communities, to connect our communities and to connect us with the Metro Vancouver.Murray GambleSquamish
