A frequent transit route connecting the north and south ends of the city will be rolled out Sunday (Sept. 6) by Regional District of Nanaimo Transit.
Please note that there will be some changes to transit service in Nanaimo starting on Sept. 6th. http://t.co/VPZktqyQtu
— RDN_Transit (@RDN_Transit) September 2, 2015
The new Route 40 VIU Express Frequent Transit Network will run seven days a week and offers a stronger level of service compared to regular routes, according to Daniel Pearce, RDN transit operations manager.
“Frequent transit line basically means there’s going to be more frequent service on the route throughout the entire day,” said Pearce. “Starting at the peak times, between 10-15-minute service from approximately 7:30 a.m. to about 9:30 a.m. and ... from approximately 3:30 p.m. till about 6:30 p.m.”
Pearce said Route 40 will start at Woodgrove Centre going along Uplands Drive to Country Club Centre. It will then travel along Bowen Road to Vancouver Island University. From the university, it will head to Prideaux Exchange.
“Instead of actually stopping and ending its trip at Prideaux and starting a new trip and looping around downtown, it will actually just stop at Prideaux and then continue to go downtown, so providing direct service to downtown and then work its way back to Prideaux Exchange, where it will stop and end its trip,” said Pearce.
Changes to some routes include the Route 25 ferry shuttle, which will now run from Prideaux Exchange to Departure Bay terminal Thursday to Monday, between noon and 7 p.m. It won’t run to Country Club Centre.
“What we heard from the riders and the public is that they wanted it just to service the Prideaux Exchange and the days of the week as well. So that’s why we changed the day of the week to line up with the most frequent ferry service and the highest demand,” said Pearce.
Routes 12 Dover and 93 Mountain View have been cut due to lack of riders and to accommodate the new services.
For more information on the changes, please go to bctransit.com/nanaimo/home.