Highway 16 Transit Public Consultation Report Released
Prince George, B.C.- With comments and suggestions from more than a thousand completed surveys and interaction with more than 700 who attended public engagement sessions, BC Transit now has a guide as to what the public wants in the way of a transportation service between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
The feedback indicated strong support for such a service, and general satisfaction with the proposed routes, bus stops and proposed new shelters, but there was one common complaint which called for more days of service per week ( most want 3 days) and most would like to see at least one of those days on the weekend.
Those who provided input indicate they travel between communities on the Highway 16 corridor for shopping, medical or dental appointments, or for social and recreational reasons.
The plan calls for four routes:
- Prince George to Burns Lake
- Burns Lake to Smithers with a link to existing service to the Hazeltons
- Smithers to Terrace, with a link to existing service to Kitimat
- Terrace to Prince Rupert
It also calls for a new bus stop at the Petro Can at Carmel Drive in Beaverly, the only new bus stop in the immediate P.G. area, as the other stops in the City make use of current exchange and bus stop locations.
However, there are numerous additional bus stops and shelters proposed for the rest of the route to Prince Rupert.
The proposed service between communities on the Highway16 Corridor from Prince George to Prince Rupert is part of the Province’s $5 million Highway 16 Transportation Action Plan for new and expanded transportation services along the corridor. The proposed BC Transit services focus on offering same-day return travel between smaller communities and their closest larger centre.
As part of the action plan, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) committed $1 million for the installation of advanced safety features, including enhanced bus stop shelters and CCTV cameras.
The service plan will now be developed or tweaked according to the feedback received during this public engagement process. The next step will see the revised version of possible routes and bus stop locations presented to local governments and First Nations so the local decision makers can give the green light for the plan to be implemented.
More information will be available later this year.
The full report on the consultation results can be accessed here.
The report on proposed new bus stops, shelters and routes, can be accessed here.
Comments
“The Ministry of Transportation has quashed hopes for a shuttle bus along the Highway of Tears by confirming it has abandoned the concept, saying any further public transit expansion would be up to local governments.”
.interior-news.com/breaking_news/285999731.html
Ah, the difference two years makes, an election that ushered in a Federal Liberal Government committed to a National Inquiry on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, and an upcoming provincial election.
Question: Does this Christy Clark Government care more about getting re-elected or more about murdered and missing women / girls?
Answer: I think we all got the message when they were caught triple deleting Highway of Tears emails and documents.
JGalt. In your humble opinion, do you think that the proposed bus service will reduce or eliminate people hitch hiking along this highway???
It matters little who is in Government or what service is provided, if people continue to hitch hike then the problem will continue.
Elucidate please.
There is no bus service at all north of kitwanga to dease lake or beyond. And no cell coverage at all either. There are small communities all over this province with no public transportation. Are we going to provide a bus service to everyone in BC regardless of where they live. And who is going to pay for it. Highway 16 has greyhound bus service does it not?
That’s why places like Whitehorse implemented a ride share program . Like you elude to , cell service is key . That’s what’s needed more than buses . Maybe Telus should spend a little more on coverage than they do showing us furry little animals . Our animals aren’t little and some aren’t furry . The telcos suck enough money out of us that they can afford to put some back . Some of the missing could have been a cellphone call away .
If one reads the story without political bias and motives it becomes clear that a) of course the government has listened to the people and b) it wants to be re-elected.
Furthermore, there are two aspects to the matter. a) numerous inquiries have been made over the years into the fact that many women have been found murdered and many are still missing and there are far too many cold cases. b) looking into the future it has been decided that improved transportation services along the Prince George – Prince Rupert highway are part of safe possible solutions.
I would be happy to hear HOW differently a JGalt’s NDP government would handle this in view of the “comments and suggestions from more than a thousand completed surveys and interaction with more than 700 who attended public engagement sessions.”
I think that no matter what the present government is doing it will never meet with an ounce of approval from those who have a political axe to grind!
The NDP has long been calling for a shuttle bus system for the Highway of Tears, a person would have to be willfully ignorant, or living under a rock not to know this. Here is a news article from 2013.
.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/local-news/ndp-demand-shuttle-on-highway-of-tears-1.1038008
In my opinion, the only reason the Christy Clark Government is moving on this now, is because they want to get re-elected. Why else would they wait a full ten years since the Highway of Tears Symposium Recommendations Report which called for a Shuttle Bus service? Why else would they wait a 3 full years before following Wally Oppal’s Missing Women Inquiry Report calling for the immediate implementation of a public transportation system for the Highway of Tears?
IMO, the only ones who are playing “politics” with BC’s Murdered and Missing Women is the Christy Clark Government!!!
So why not give Greyhound a subsidy to increase service and use some sort of travel voucher system. I can’t see the government and local communities running their own transportation systems. It will not go well.
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