Full Sunday Service First for P.G.

By 250 News

 Transit service in Prince George is now popular enough that full Sunday transit service will be available.  That’s a first for P.G.

"We did  a pilot project late last fall and early this spring" says City of Prince George Transit Analyst Warren Hall.  "We started with  the students at the University because they are isolated on the weekend.  The project went so well, we had enquires from other parts of the City asking if the  service could be expanded."

Hall says the full Sunday schedule  will cost about $45 thousand dollars, but, those dollars will come from the savings  made over the past year along with increased revenue.  "We were able to save some money by going to a shuttle service in the Hart.  Residents there are happy with the smaller bus and our ridership has continued to grow" says Hall.  Those adjustments mean more revenue, which City Council said should be reinvested into the transit system. 

Hall says  he will review the Sunday service in November to see if any changes need to be made, but he promises it will  run within  its budgeted  amounts.  "We have to spend the taxpayers dollars wisely" says Hall,  who adds "I hadn’t even  included revenue  from the Sunday  ridership when I developed the schedule for the fall and we are still within the budget, so I am pretty confident there will be no problem with costs."

Hall  says since overhauling the transit service  ridership has increased.  It was up  10% in 2004, a further 18 % in 2005 and  this year looks on target to be up another 10%.  Why  are Prince George residents suddenly turning to the bus?

"First of all, we revised the schedule so it is a real option now.  It no longer takes 45 minutes to get to a Prince George destination by bus,  you can get there in  15  to 20 minutes." says Hall. He says the rising cost of operating a vehicle is also a factor.

Hall wants to hear comments from  transit users and non users.  He encourage severyone to visit the transit web forum to make some comments.

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