How Transit adjusts for building boom
Road closings prompt reroutings, other adjustments
B.C. Transit and its drivers say they are working hard to adjust for delays in Greater Victoria, mostly caused by road construction.
“There is a lot of construction going on in and around Victoria, like bike lanes and the huge project up on McKenzie,” said Ben Williams, president of Unifor Local 333, representing B.C. Transit drivers.
“Victoria has been getting more congested over the years and the whole system has been slowing down. But to have these construction projects going on at the same time … it’s definitely making it more of a challenge for the operation to run on time.”
Transit officials said special measures must be taken from time to time to deal with delays. Jonathon Dyck, B.C. Transit spokesman, offered no statistics to illustrate the extent of delays, but it’s clear that they’re happening.
“If we know there are things like potential lane closures and that sort of thing, we can plan ahead and get the information out to our customers,” Dyck said.
For example, road closings, such as the ones in James Bay forced by the preparation of a pipeline for the new sewagetreatment system, will prompt rerouting of established routes.
“We know some areas are now getting served differently,” Dyck said. “We know that can be a challenge, but we also need to be good partners. The work has to happen in these areas, and we have to do our best to work around them.”
Some of the projects causing delays will mean better service in the future. Dyck cited the bus-priority lanes on Douglas Street as an example. “We recognize it can be a short-term challenge, but once we get through this stage, it’s really going to support B.C. Transit and help us provide better service.”
Meanwhile, bus drivers and schedulers do their best to deal with day-to-day issues. Sudden problems, like the closing of a road because of a crash, can make for the biggest problems.
When a bus is running late, B.C. Transit sometimes resorts to things like “short turning.”
With this move, a driver consults with the scheduling team and the bus can be directed to bypass several stops and then resumes the rest of the route to make up time. Williams said it’s something nobody likes to see happen and it’s only done when another bus will be along soon.
Buses can be added to a route to help things stay on schedule. Williams said the union would like to see B.C. Transit schedule more buses to address delays.
Dyck said the passenger experience should improve with a system that’s being installed in the coming year that will give real-time information about bus locations. Instead of just showing scheduled arrival times at a stop, the system will predict arrival times based on actual bus locations.
Riders will be able to call up B.C. Transit information on a cellphone and see the location of the next bus on a map, in real time.
“So they can tell if the bus is five minutes away or at another stop or if they have just missed the bus,” Dyck said.
“They can figure out, should I stay at home or go for a coffee, or text my friends to tell them I will be late. It’s going to give a lot more certainty to customers.”