By Kate Irwin
Pioneer Staff
Additional bus shuttles between valley communities and adjustments to parts of the Columbia Valley Transit bus route are being investigated by B.C. Transit to try to improve the service.
At a meeting of the Regional Districts Columbia Valley area directors in Cranbrook on September 6th, the board was presented with an array of options by the transportation corporation to alter the five-day-a-week bus service.
The recommendations came from public consultation sessions held in May by B.C. Transit.
When they received feedback from people at the workshop they realized not all the ideas can be implemented, so they took those options and came up with recommendations that were achievable, said Lee-Ann Crane, Chief Administrative Officer for the Regional District of East Kootenay.
The options selected by the board for B.C. Transit to investigate include rerouting the bus from its current path along Kootenay No. 3 Road between Fairmont and Windermere to travel instead along Highway 93/95, and a reroute between Columbia Ridge and Columere Park to travel along Columbia Lake Road, instead of the highway.
Follow-up consultation should be undertaken with the Ktunaxa before service is removed from Kootenay No. 3 Road, the valleys three mayors and two Electoral Area directors agreed.
Along with these amendments to the regular bus route, ways to add links during the daytime between the valleys towns and villages are being examined by the transport corporation.
I think the main objective is to increase ridership up and down the valley, added Dee Conklin, Mayor of Radium Hot Springs.
