City Council gives first three readings for annual BC Transit agreement

Prince George City Council took the first steps to renew the City’s annual operating agreement with BC Transit at last night’s (Monday) meeting.

According to a staff report to Council, the operating costs for the conventional transit system in the 2026-27 fiscal year will be $5,234,685.

For the Custom transit system (handyDART), the City’s cost is expected to be $631,151.

In terms of updates, BC Transit Government Relations Manager Iris Brown said BC Transit has begun reviewing fares, with plans to make a proposal to Council in May or June.

“It’s really all about to adjust fares to align with inflation, introduce or review prepaid fare products,” she explained.

Brown added BC Transit will no longer have medium-duty buses, as announced in June.

“It was established that these products are no longer sustainable and a viable option due to limited availability and long-term reliability,” she said.

“Prince George has 20 heavy duty buses, seven medium duty buses, and five light duty buses, so our team, our planning and fleet team will connect with staff to find a good mix of heavy duty and light duty buses to phase out the medium duty buses over time.”

Additionally, Brown said BC Transit is implementing a new custom transit solution to modernize the HandyDART service.

“The project will create one provincial platform for our custom transit riders,” she explained.

“It offers improvements from day-to-day operations, enhance customer’s experience, including online registration, trip management, and real-time updates. It also provides clearer information and better access for caregivers and appointed delegates.”

It was also noted by City Transit Planner Daniel Pearce the HandyDART program is near capacity.

“We will be bringing forward some different options for expansions for custom, so the only way to address the capacity is ultimately through expansions,” Pearce explained.

“Custom is funded at a higher rate of 66.69 per cent BC Transit, so the provincial government pays a higher share of that, so they have to have the funding available for it to come forward. So next year, they’ve said there’s no funding available, so that’s something that we’re going to have to try to put onto our books, and see if we can do it in future years.”

Councillor Brian Skakun brought up issues surrounding a couple of bus stops in the City.

“On Tyner, when you go up there by University Heights, there’s a little bit of a pullout now but it stops traffic, it creates a hazard, Westwood, just after you come off Ferry on the right, it blocks the entire lane,”

“I don’t know what can be done, and I know we have to have these important routes but perhaps maybe long-term planning we can look at ways to mitigate some of that.”

Pearce said those are a couple of trouble stops for BC Transit, among others in the City.

“We’ll be working with the rest of our civic group and we try to highlight spots that we can have land or we can do pullouts, and as we do in capital projects try to build those out,” he explained.

Councillor Trudy Klassen asked about exploring a demand-responsive pilot.

Pearce said they’re not looking at bringing on-demand into the City’s service right now, because it would use more hours.

“Ultimately we do think that with the structure right now, even just the large buses, like the 40-foot bus is a very good tool, because throughout the day we get it full, and then it might back off, like we’re seeing on the top performing routes, we’re actually at capacity even on those 40-foot buses at times of the day,” he explained.

“Supplementing all the smaller routes with the small buses, and as long as they’re going and we’re seeing that in the right neighbourhoods and things, they’re still providing that collection, and then it is a very different service, custom, door-to-door service for people that can’t take a big bus, or aren’t able to physically, but I think that’s something that at the moment right now, I don’t know if it really brings much sense to bring forward to Prince George, so, that’s something we’ll monitor and we’ll keep an eye on as it goes forward.”

Councillor Garth Frizzell asked if BC Transit was looking at possibly going electric with buses in Prince George.

“Not at this moment, we would have to be looking at some other elements of our system like facilities,” Pearce said.

“There is information that we’ll be bringing forward to Council coming into the next few months, just to try to look at our overall system and our different options.”

Pearce noted Prince George has the oldest transit fleet of the tier 1 transit system in the province.

“I’m trying to advocate very closely with BC Transit, because they are the owner of the buses, they’re the ones that buy them, purchase them,” he said.

“We do need and we want newer buses just for operational efficiencies.”

After the vote to give first three readings for the agreement, which passed unanimously, Councillor Kyle Sampson put forward a motion directing administration to work with BC Transit and report back to Council with options to expand Custom Transit Service in Prince George, specifically the handyDART.

This motion was also passed unanimously.