Shannon Lake residents to get better bus service
Expanded service in Shannon Lake area, summer route to Okanagan Lake among improvements approved by council
Anew bus route linking Westbank to the Okanagan Lake waterfront was approved this week by West Kelowna city council.
The service will operate only in July and August.
“We have a massive parking issue down there in the summer,” said Coun. Rosalind Neis. “Why would we not try to do something about that?”
Council voted 4-2 to support the spending of about $9,000 for the new service, the precise routing of which still has to be determined.
Coun. Duane Ophus noted an existing route travels along Boucherie Road, coming very close to popular waterfront attractions such as the Gellatly Bay Aquatic Park, Willow Beach and the yacht club. A new route, he predicted, would not be wellused.
“When this thing doesn’t work, we’ll have $9,000 in the budget we can allocate to something that’s important,” Ophus said.
But there was unanimity among councillors for expanding transit service in the northern half of the Shannon Lake neighbourhood, at a cost to taxpayers of $110,000.
“I do believe there’s a potential large ridership up there that’s going to jump on board,” Coun. Rick de Jong said.
Other council-approved changes include increasing funding to improve non-peak service on the RapidBus line from Westbank to Kelowna ($28,000), and combining the No. 27 and No. 29 routes to save money.
“I think busing and providing transit to our citizens is a priority,” said Coun. Rusty Ensign.
Prior to the increases, West Kelowna spent about $1.8 million of taxpayers’ money on the Westside transit system, which has eight routes, six of which have ridership levels below targets set by BC Transit.