B.C. Transit has announced more changes to the Fraser Valley bus scheduling.
About six months ago, the transit system had a large-scale restructuring in an attempt to update the system for patrons’ needs. After receiving feedback from the community, B.C. Transit has taken to instating some relatively minor schedule and route changes in an attempt to make the system run a little smoother.
The changes detailed, announced on Dec. 23, were to expand service hours in the Central Fraser Valley Transit System. Mostly, this includes adding trips, extending routes, and “minor service improvements” in both the Abbotsford and Mission areas. These changes were in effect as of Jan. 5, 2020 and can be found on the B.C. Transit website under service changes.
According to B.C. Transit, most of these changes aim to improve the overall quality of service. Most major routes, including the 1 Highstreet/UFV, 2 Highstreet/McMillan, 3 Clearbrook/Huntington, 7 Sumas Mountain, 5 Clearbook/Bourquin, 6 Gladwin, 12 UFV/Bourquin Peak, and 21 Aldergrove/Abbotsford, as well as the 31 Mission Connecter, have all seen some kind of service change. Number 1 has seen an increase in trips on weekdays and Saturday. The 12, along with the 5, 6, and 21 have all seen service level and schedule changes in the hopes to improve reliability. The 2 has seen increases in trips on all days as well as all Sunday trip routes extending to the Abbotsford Rec Centre. Finally in the Abbotsford area, the 3 bus from the university to Highstreet will see an increase in the number of trips made on Saturdays.
For students living in the Mission area, changes have been made to several lines in the hopes of improving the overall transit system. As previously mentioned, the 31 has seen service changes in the form of allowing the bus to run on stat holidays. In a similar vein, the 35 Hatzic and the 39 Shopper Shuttle have also seen service added on stat holidays, as well as on Sunday. The only real significant change in this update is the 40 East Mission Night Bus route being discontinued, to be replaced by 33 Cedar Valley and 34 East Side, which will both be gaining service on Sundays, holidays, and in the evenings on weekdays and Saturdays.
As always, it’s recommended that if you are planning any major trips to check the schedule, which can be found online at bctransit.com, or at major bus stops such as Borquin in the near future. B.C. Transit has also updated their Rider’s Guide to reflect these most recent changes, and it can be found aboard your bus of choice, in an online PDF, or by contacting the local B.C. Transit system. These changes appear to be in response to the comments made by the riders of the buses, and with luck will provide travellers with a better, more reliable local transit system in the near future.
