Starting July 2, Nicola Valley transit users will be able to ride the bus six days a week.
Last week Councillor Alistair Murdoch made the official announcement that B.C. Transit had agreed to fund their portion of the proposed expansion to the bus service which will include Saturday service as well as a three-hour expansion into the evenings.
“I am thrilled to announce tonight that they have agreed this expanded service can start on Saturday, July 2,” he said during a regular council meeting June 14. “I think the fact that this expansion is taking effect in July rather than September is due in large part to the lobbying efforts that this council has engaged in.”
Implementing the service in July rather than September will allow residents and guests to utilize the buses during Mountainfest, The Great Canadian Bike Rally and Merritt’s 100th Homecoming week, he explained.
In February, council gave pre-budget approval for $16,350 to cover 49.31 per cent of the expansions, with B.C. Transit picking up the remainder of the cost. Murdoch said council has been pushing for these expansions from as early as 2008 and met with officials from B.C. Transit and the Ministry of Transport during the last two annual UBCM meetings.
“I doubt that any other council in this province has shown up en masse to ask for expansion of its bus service,” Murdoch said though he added that he did not want to minimize the contribution of B.C. Transit and the provincial government, which pays over half the operating costs while allowing the City of Merritt to keep 100 per cent of the revenue.
“It is a tribute to the commitment of this government and the preceding NDP one to ensuring that all residents of the province are able to get around the community they live in regardless of where they live, their financial ability to afford a motor vehicle, or their physical ability to drive one,” Murdoch said.
Starting on July 2, the Nicola Valley Transit Society will be providing bus service from 6:15 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. six days a week. This service will include 15 trips to and from the North End leaving Wal-Mart every hour on the hour from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The bus will also make 13 trips a day to Diamondvale leaving downtown at a quarter past the hour from 6:15 a.m. to 9:15 p.m., and 12 trips a day to Colletteville leaving downtown at half past the hour from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The bus will continue to make three trips out to Lower Nicola at 7:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 5:15 p.m.
Transit users can find further information in the revised Rider’ Guides due out this week.
