BC Transit and the Victoria Regional Transit Commission will be introducing service expansion and changes to be implemented on January 2nd, 2018. The service expansion will build off the 20,000 additional service hours.

The main communities affected will be Tsawout First Nation and James Bay.

The changes in James Bay align with Transit Future Action Plan for Victoria. These changes will provide more direct routes to Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria High School, Oak Bay and Central Middle School.

Service changes for the Tsawout First nation will come into effect after consultation with the District of central Saanich and Tsawout First Nation.

Photo credit: BC Transit

Changes include:

• Route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown will provide service to Fisherman’s Wharf and Five Corners before connecting to downtown Victoria and continuing to Oak Bay.
• Route 3 Beacon Hill/Gonzales will expand to turn north onto Foul Bay Rd., connecting with the Royal Jubilee Hospital, where it will continue as route 10 Royal Jubilee/Songhees to Vic West.
• Routes 7 Uvic/Downtown and 21 Camosun Interurban/Downtown are now connected, removing the need to change buses on select trips.
• Route 19 Hillside Mall, which provided service from James Bay to Hillside Mall, will be discontinued and replaced by the expanded route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown.
• Routes 27 Gordon Head/Downtown and 28 Majestic/Downtown will now terminate at the Blanshard Terminus downtown, and no longer circulate through James Bay. The route will be replaced by route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown.
• Routes 30 Royal Oak Exchange/ Beacon Hill/ James Bay and 31 Royal Oak Exchange/James Bay will now terminate at the Legislature Terminus, and no longer circulate through James Bay. The route will be replaced by route 2 Oak Bay/Willows/Downtown.
• Route 50 Langford Exchange will start earlier on Saturday and Sunday.
• Route 61 Sooke will have three extra round trips added creating hourly service from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and will start earlier on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Route 82 Sidney will be expanded to better serve the Tsawout First Nations community.

Photo credit: BC Transit

BC Transit will have staff stationed at main bus stops in order to explain the new routes during the first week of January. BC Transit has also offered to provide presentations and travel training upon request.

For more information, please visit BCTransit.com/victoria.