Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / The City of Chilliwack says that while BC Transit has approved the expansion of service hours for handyDART, they haven't done the same for conventional transit. Chilliwack council says it has consistently approved municipal funding in support of transit expansion for the past three consecutive years. However, council says the province has not committed funding in the last three years for expansion of transit services in Chilliwack. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Transit in Chilliwack

City of Chilliwack baffled as to why B.C. govt. won’t fund expanded transit service

May 23, 2024 | 12:09 PM

CHILLIWACK — As one of the fastest growing communities in all of Canada between 2016 and 2021, it stands to reason that transit services in and around Chilliwack should grow when more residents move to town, some of whom don’t have vehicles.

But the City of Chilliwack says that while BC Transit has approved the expansion of service hours for handyDART, they haven’t done the same for conventional transit.

As a matter of fact, according to a city staff report attached to Tuesday’s city council meeting, BC Transit has declined an expansion of conventional transit in Chilliwack.

The city says Chilliwack’s ridership recovery percentages consistently show that it is at the top or near the top of all BC Transit partner communities.

Chilliwack council says it has consistently approved municipal funding in support of transit expansion for the past three consecutive years. However, council says the province has not committed funding for expanded transit in the last three years.

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Due to the funding arrangement between the City of Chilliwack and the provincial government, the city can only move forward with transit expansion if the B.C. government also budgets their share of funding.

The city argues that Chilliwack residents, living in a rapidly growing community, should have access to reliable transit, along with potentially expanded bus service, and hopes BC Transit can provide additional funding.

The city staff report, authored by Doug Mossey, manager of transportation and drainage for the City of Chilliwack, says the last service expansion in Chilliwack occurred in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Chilliwack has grown by thousands of people since 2019 but the province has not done its part to ensure that transit services match that growth.

Mossey wrote in his report that Chilliwack has been approved for a 2,100-hour handyDART expansion to extend evening handyDART service on weekdays to 6:30 p.m. and to introduce handyDART service on Sundays.

However, the requested conventional transit expansion package that would have included 4,200 hours of expansion to improve frequency on routes 51, 52, 57, 58 and 54 with the addition of four buses was denied. The reason cited by BC Transit, Mossey wrote, is the limited capacity at the existing transit facility on Yale Road. City staff say they do not support this justification and believe they can work around this issue. Accordingly, staff have communicated to BC Transit the urgent need for conventional transit expansion in Chilliwack.