Vernon council votes to support plan for a bus to West Kelowna
A Vernon man is on a mission to better connect the Okanagan’s public transit system, and the city council just voted to support him.
Fraser Young lives in Vernon and wrote to local government officials about improving transit by combining bus route 90 to route 97 to make it easier to get all the way from Vernon to West Kelowna. Young's suggestions include expanding the service schedule and making it easier to get to major destinations like the Kelowna International Airport.
Vernon city council unanimously voted for the mayor to write a letter of support for Young’s proposal to BC Transit and the Ministry of Transportation and Transit yesterday, Feb. 10.
“This would connect Vernon, Lake Country, Kelowna, YLW, UBCO and West Kelowna to one rapid bus line. Once combined, by continuing the route 97 existing schedule, bus service would begin at 5 a.m. and conclude as late as 2 a.m. with peak service times operating every 15 minutes,” Young wrote in his letter to council.
Young started an online petition that gained more than 400 signatures, he rallied support from Vernon-Lumby MLA Harwinder Sandhu and now city council is getting behind his suggestions.
“Okanagan will have more independence thanks to the expanded bus service times and frequency allowing them to get to more appointments on their own, this was actually a reoccurring comment from many seniors through the petition and online social media. Overall, every single group within our communities will benefit from expansion of this bus route,” Young wrote.
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Sandhu wrote a letter to Parliamentary Secretary George Anderson to support the expansion.
“The proposed extension of Route 97, which currently operates between UBCO and West Kelowna, would integrate it with Route 90, connecting UBCO and Vernon. This plan would include early morning service starting at 5 a.m. to accommodate commuters between Kelowna and Vernon. This route would give passengers the ability to connect to key locations such as Vernon Jubilee Hospital, Kelowna International Airport, Kelowna General Hospital, Prospera Place, and Orchard Park Shopping Centre, and late-night service with the last bus departing at 2 a.m., better serving shift-workers, tourists and people travelling home from social activities,” she wrote in her letter.
The support for Young’s vision of improved public transit connectivity is there, but time will tell whether or not the government will allocate the funding for it.
This push for change comes as BC Transit is reviewing Kelowna’s fare prices.
“Fares are an essential part of funding and maintaining public transportation in your community. The fare review process is typically undertaken on a three to five-year cycle. The fare review process was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was last undertaken in 2015. Since this time, demand for transit and the cost of operation has continued to increase,” BC Transit said in its review notice.
Last year, BC Transit renewed a two-year operating contract with Transdev, a private corporation based in France.
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