Whereas there is a high demand for transit expansion hours within regional and municipal boundaries and local governments must use their regions transit expansion hours to address transportation needs within their regional boundaries; And whereas there is a demand for interregional transit that has a geographic scope extending beyond regional boundaries that would be best managed as a provincial transportation matter to support the viability of interregional connections: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM advocate to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure and BC Transit for interregional transit in BC to be considered a provincial transportation matter, using a different service model whereby interregional hours are managed as cost-sharing contracts by BC Transit, allowing private sector enterprise or local governments the opportunity to bid on interregional segments of transit.
Transportation and Infrastructure The ministry is working with BC Transit to evaluate long term transit service expansion priorities in communities across the province. As ridership continues to recover from the declines during the pandemic, government is first focused on rebuilding ridership and then supporting expansions to BC Transit systems. Ministry staff are aware of the funding challenges related to interregional transportation and are exploring a broad array of options for longer distance transportation depending upon the need and purpose of travel.