A BC Transit Fall service change in Williams Lake will come into effect this Tuesday, September 3rd
BC Transit Spokesperson Jamie Weiss said the change is all about improving service reliability so customers who currently use the Williams Lake Transit System are not going to see any new routes or changes to existing routes it’s all about reliability and altering the run time.
“Currently what we’re seeing especially in winter or inclement weather is sometime our scheduling is a little bit too tight and that means sometimes buses are running late which is frustrating for our customers and operators.”
Weiss said what BC Transit is doing is alternating some trip times and adding a little bit of a cushion in there to make sure their buses will be able to run more reliably.
“People want to be able to just go to the bus stop and be there and the bus picks them up when it’s suppose to and off they go. It really kind of matches up with the implementation of “Next Ride” which happened in late June in Williams Lake.”
Next Ride is BC Transit’s real time bus tracking application.
“When you use the transit app on your mobile device, it will tell you how many minutes until the bus arrives at your stop,” Weiss said, “So by creating a little bit more room in the existing schedule we’ll improve reliability and then the Transit app data will be even more reliable for customers. This service change is really all about making it easier for people to take the bus.”
Weiss noted that they have a planning and scheduling team that works with local government partners to constantly review all of their Transit Systems.
“We’re looking at run times,we’re looking at ridership trends and usage in the community and we also want to make sure that our Transit service matches up with the community’s long term plan and vision. It was felt at this time going into September that this was the best time to make this change and improve reliability.”
Weiss added that they encourage customers in Williams Lake who take Transit all the time, and have input, that BC Transit wants to hear from you.
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