Kelowna`s transit exchange downtown.

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Starting in the new year, B.C. Transit will be implementing more service on routes in Kelowna and Kamloops.

B.C. Transit is working to match service with demand. This service change will look to improve service reliability on routes throughout the transit system beginning Jan. 3, according to a news release from transit.

Additional service will be implemented in Kelowna on routes 1 Lakeshore, 5 Gordon, 8 University / OK College, 10 North Rutland, 11 Rutland, 12 McCulloch, 29 Bear Creek and the 97 Okanagan.

There are also new mid-day trips in place on various routes to allow secondary school students to travel home from schools that have adjusted bell times in response to COVID-19. Schedule information for these trips can be found in customer alerts on the website.

Additional service will also be added to three Kamloops routes, 1 Tranquille, 2 Parkcrest and 4 Pacific Way.

Details can be found on the B.C. Transit website for Kamloops.

A total of 696 full driver doors have now been installed in buses across 34 transit systems to protect the health and safety of bus drivers. 

Over the past six months, 633 medium-duty, heavy-duty, and high-capacity buses have been retrofitted with full driver doors. The installations were accelerated this year in response to COVID-19, and the retrofits were completed seven months ahead of schedule, according to B.C. Transit.

New buses in the fleet will arrive with the full driver door pre-installed. Since the fall of 2019, 63 replacement and expansion buses have joined the B.C. Transit fleet with the full driver door factory installed.

The full driver door is an engineered door situated to the right of the driver’s seat near the fare box and is designed to increase protection for bus drivers. It includes a transparent piece of laminated tempered glass with anti-glare coating and a metal base. The full driver door window can be adjusted to account for sightlines associated with different seat positions.

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