Busses in Vernon

[Dizzy1]

Great except let's not stop in Lake Country - have work time buses from park & rides in Vernon - Kelowna with stops Lake Country, and a couple in Winfield for the highway portion. So many people making that commute nowadays. Evening one could depart at 5:30 p.m., with another one at 6:30 p.m. in case you have to run an errand before heading home. Early morning one gets to each destination at 7:30 a.m., next one at 8:30 a.m. Be worth a try to see if there was any ridership.

I would have loved to have seen the train get going again instead of dumping the tracks for a bike trail- I know the cost was prohibitive - but there are a TON of people now who commute from Vernon & areas to Kelowna, and vise versa. Trains would be super cool! I think they would be packed with people if they could make the cost work. Snooze ya lose - history is history now - gonna be a bike path....

As much as I love trains and I'd love to see one here, the old track wouldn't have worked. The layout (curves, etc.) would have kept the speed for the train fairly slow increasing travel time significantly. Added to that, seeing its only a single track, only one train could use the track at a time between most points, further increasing the ineffectiveness of the track. If they were to start a train between the valley, we'd have to start from scratch.

[dontrump]

as said and resaid completely mismanaged, over spending and large buses that cost big $$ are definitely not required
typical liberal lefty systems that cater to the have not's but paid for by the workers of the world
smaller more efficient buses would be more than adequate;; having a bus system so expensive all paid for by others to benefit so few is the typical work of the leftys ;; this system run privately would definitely be way way cheaper but overall a waste of the poor tax payer monies

[Dizzy1]

as said and resaid completely mismanaged, over spending and large buses that cost big $$ are definitely not required
typical liberal lefty systems that cater to the have not's but paid for by the workers of the world
smaller more efficient buses would be more than adequate;; having a bus system so expensive all paid for by others to benefit so few is the typical work of the leftys ;; this system run privately would definitely be way way cheaper but overall a waste of the poor tax payer monies

We already have the smaller more fuel efficient buses running around town

[dontrump]

as said and resaid completely mismanaged, over spending and large buses that cost big $$ are definitely not required
typical liberal lefty systems that cater to the have not's but paid for by the workers of the world
smaller more efficient buses would be more than adequate;; having a bus system so expensive all paid for by others to benefit so few is the typical work of the leftys ;; this system run privately would definitely be way way cheaper but overall a waste of the poor tax payer monies

We already have the smaller more fuel efficient buses running around town

a couple are but 80% are the large very empty expensive regular busses ;;

[Dizzy1]

a couple are but 80% are the large very empty expensive regular busses ;;

Wrong again. Vernon uses 3 of the “expensive regular” buses (1 as a spare) and the rest of the fleet utilizes the smaller, more fuel efficient buses. And btw, 1200 passengers a day isn’t “empty”

[dontrump]

depends what I call and you call larger buses but that aside the BC transit corporation is (as it sits) a dreadfully over staffed and over managed bureaucracy one only has to look at the web site
worse than ICBC (if that's possible)

[Dizzy1]

depends what I call and you call larger buses but that aside the BC transit corporation is (as it sits) a dreadfully over staffed and over managed bureaucracy one only has to look at the web site
worse than ICBC (if that's possible)

It doesn't matter what you call a "large" bus - you don't have the understanding or knowledge of what is required to provide a given service. Vernon has the smallest, most fuel efficient option in service for the operations required. Its really that simple, Using the argument in using a cutaway style bus is irrelevant because they are incapable of doing the job required - in other words, its like using the argument to eat your soup with a fork instead of a spoon because a fork is cheaper. It simply doesn't work.

As for BC Transit being over managed. Could you enlighten us on how you've come to this conclusion instead of just saying "look at their website"?

While I'm not an advocate for BC Transit, nor ICBC, nor MoT or just about anything run in this Province that has is processes/decisions made in Victoria instead of respective communities - I don't believe that they're over managed in the least, or at least not anymore over managed if every community ran their own systems exclusively.

[dontrump]

depends what I call and you call larger buses but that aside the BC transit corporation is (as it sits) a dreadfully over staffed and over managed bureaucracy one only has to look at the web site
worse than ICBC (if that's possible)

It doesn't matter what you call a "large" bus - you don't have the understanding or knowledge of what is required to provide a given service. Vernon has the smallest, most fuel efficient option in service for the operations required. Its really that simple, Using the argument in using a cutaway style bus is irrelevant because they are incapable of doing the job required - in other words, its like using the argument to eat your soup with a fork instead of a spoon because a fork is cheaper. It simply doesn't work.

As for BC Transit being over managed. Could you enlighten us on how you've come to this conclusion instead of just saying "look at their website"?

While I'm not an advocate for BC Transit, nor ICBC, nor MoT or just about anything run in this Province that has is processes/decisions made in Victoria instead of respective communities - I don't believe that they're over managed in the least, or at least not anymore over managed if every community ran their own systems exclusively.

I humbly submit that you are the one whom totally misunderstands I completely understand several things I see with BC transit 1) large buses in vernon and other citys with 3 people in them 2) Involved in two many things other than city buses
3) used by very few and paid for by already severly over taxed rate payers
A overall lose of 300 million per year

[Dizzy1]

I humbly submit that you are the one whom totally misunderstands I completely understand several things I see with BC transit 1) large buses in vernon and other citys with 3 people in them 2) Involved in two many things other than city buses
3) used by very few and paid for by already severly over taxed rate payers

Good grief!

1) Vernon's ridership is at 1200 pax a day, this is based on actual passenger counts - not by Don Trump driving by a bus here and there for half a minute, glancing in the window to come up with an erroneous conclusion.

Revenue and Ridership Historical Performance
The table below outlines key performance statistics for the Vernon Regional Transit System for the fiscal year 2016/17.
Table 3: Key Performance Measures
*Excludes advertising, BC Bus Pass and miscellaneous revenue. Represents revenue that can be affected by fare change.
Vernon/Coldstream
Ridership: Annual ridership for the Vernon/Coldstream conventional service has increased steadily
over the past three years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of one percent.
Revenue: Similar to ridership, revenue has increased over the past three years, with a CAGR of two percent. Cash revenue has remained flat, with a three-year CAGR of zero percent, while revenue from prepaid fares has increased at a CAGR of three percent over three years. Additionally, revenue from fares (excluding advertising, BC Bus Pass and miscellaneous revenues) has also increased at three- year CAGR of three percent.
Cost Recovery: Along with increases in revenue, total expenses (operating costs and debt service) have increased three percent over the past three years. Overall, this results in Total Cost Recovery having a three-year CAGR of zero percent. From a fare revenue perspective, strategies to improve cost recovery include promoting the purchase of prepaid products to decrease cash handling costs, improving revenue per passenger through increased fares or increasing ridership, which would subsequently increase total fare revenue.
Prepared by: BC Transit
Vernon Regional Fare Structure Review | Page 3
Measure

Vernon/ Coldstream

North Okanagan Paratransit
North Okanagan Connector
Ridership Growth (3-year annual compound rate)
1%

-3%

-4%
Revenue Growth (3-year annual compound rate)
2%
-3%
-1%
Total Ridership
449,468
36,076
81,302
Total Revenue
$686,876
$49,216
$80,879
Total Revenue from Fare Sources
$420,992
$42,283
$73,946
Total Fare Revenue from Pre-paid Sources
52%
22%

69%
Average Fare
$1.48

$1.36

$0.99
Expenses Growth (3-year annual compound rate)
3%

4%

1%
Total Cost Recovery (Transit Future Plan targets in parentheses)
21% (25%)
10% (13%)
14% (20%)

https://coldstream.civicweb.net/documen ... F9FA0B17A1

2) What else is BC Transit involved in?

3) It is a public transportation system which is funded by the tax pool, just as it is in 99% of every other transit system in the world. Public transportation is an essential service of any developed civilization if you like it or not. Fortunately, residents of Vernon have a much better understanding of the necessity of transit than you do ...

Transit in Vernon
During the community consultation for the Transportation Plan, Vernon residents articulated that their number one transportation priority was public transit improvements. A safe, reliable, frequent transit system has many benefits to the community.

Lower greenhouse gas emissions
Greater mobility for seniors and youth
More travel options for families
Less money required for new road infrastructure
Fewer cars on the road

https://www.vernon.ca/roads-transportation/transit

A overall lose of 300 million per year

Source?

[stuphoto]

I know that I am posting this a week late, but as an operator that actually drives buses ( although tour buses ) I have experience behind the wheel of both larger and smaller vehicles.

The first thing I always look at is safety.
If someone slides through an intersection and rams a shuttle bus there is a good chance I have injured passengers.
However the big buses are built like tanks, and unless they are in an accident with a tractor trailer the passengers rarely get injured.

Second, oddly enough the shuttle buses get stuck easily.
Since the large buses have the engine in the rear there is a tremendous amount of weight over the drive axles and they rarely get stuck.

Third, when those passengers have several grocery bags you need extra room ( in my case luggage and skies )

The only time I prefer taking the smaller shuttle buses is when traveling into tight locations.

At the end of the day the larger buses don't even use much more fuel or cost all that much more to run.