The Okanagan Transit Alliance, along with 29 other organizations and over 400 concerned residents, issued an open letter to Okanagan city councils and relevant Ministers urging immediate action to address the critical challenges facing public transit in the Okanagan region.
The open letter, signed by a coalition of local businesses, community groups, and individuals, highlights the urgent need for transformative changes to the public transit system to combat rising living costs, tackle climate change, and improve housing accessibility. Kelowna’s Transportation Master Plan explains that Kelowna was designed around the car, and that the city’s inhabitants drive the equivalent of going to the moon and back three times every weekday. The city also uses more space for parking than for housing.
"At a time when British Columbians are grappling with multiple crises, from affordability to climate change, it is imperative that we prioritize proven solutions," said Kirstin Pulles, a steering committee member with the Okanagan Transit Alliance. "Investing in public transportation is key to creating an accessible, vibrant, and sustainable community, so let’s design a system that really meets people’s needs."
Key demands outlined in the open letter include:
1. Local Management: Transitioning transit management to a publicly accountable model to ensure transparency and responsiveness to community needs.
2. HandyDART Expansion: Extending HandyDART services to operate seven days a week, bringing equity to people’s essential mobility needs.
3. Frequent Service Development: Prioritizing the establishment of frequent transit routes in high-density areas and committing to the timely expansion of transit infrastructure.
4. Fare-Free Youth Transit: Extending fare-free transit eligibility to youth aged 18-and-under to promote sustainable transportation habits and reduce financial barriers for families.
The release of the open letter coincides with a pivotal meeting between the Okanagan Transit Authority (OTA) and Minister of Transportation and Highways Rob Fleming. During the meeting,representatives from the OTA will present their transit priorities and advocate for the implementation of the proposed changes to improve public transit in the region.
"We are encouraged by the overwhelming support from our community who recognize theurgent need for action," added Benjamin Harris. "We are committed to working collaborativelywith community members, elected leaders across the Okanagan, and the provincial governmentto build a more sustainable, equitable, and accessible public transit system for this growingregion."
About:
The Okanagan Transit Alliance envisions a publicly-managed transit system for the Okanagan that is safe, sustainable, accessible, and community-driven, and that will meet the transportation needs of this growing region.
The full letter is included below:
Dear Mayor and Council of Kelowna,
British Columbians are facing many simultaneous crises. The rising cost of living, the climate change crisis, and difficulty accessing affordable and appropriate housing are challenges which will require both innovative policy changes and investing in reliable solutions.
In the words of our current provincial government, “A good public transit system is essential to building strong communities that are more affordable for the people who live in them”1. A reliable, accessible, and connected public transportation system in British Columbia can ease cost-of-living challenges, reduce emissions, increase flexibility for people finding work and choosing where to live, and more.
In the Okanagan, our public transit is stagnating. 73% of Kelowna residents, 82% of Penticton residents and 79% of Vernon residents report not using transit at all in the last year in BC Transit’s latest annual survey2. Meanwhile, transportation is the largest source of emissions in British Columbia,3 and the cost of maintaining one vehicle could decrease the size of a mortgage that a household qualifies for by well over $100,000 or more. Ridership rates are low across the province, except for some key examples. Victoria has nearly 50% of residents regularly using public transit. 57% of Kelowna residents would like to be transit users4. This means that with the right mix of incentives and quality service, significant ridership is possible. Our requests are in alignment with Budget 2022 to keep British Columbians moving.
While we welcome and celebrate the promised $1.2 billion in transit investments over the next decade in communities served by BC Transit, those investments focus on upgrading existing services - new fare technologies, electric buses, and park and rides. To provide a service that can be a legitimate alternative to personal vehicles, we need to expand service and provide new incentives to switch.
Over the last year, citizens across the Okanagan have made our own efforts atimproving our public transit services. We have engaged in town halls to gather feedbackabout the service from as many citizens as possible. Our findings were then turned into four concrete goals for improving our services.
1. Ensure transit in the Okanagan is public by bringing it under local management.
Under the current model, transit in our region is managed by a private, overseas corporation - TransDev. Their main goal is to keep costs as low as possible, rather than provide the best service per dollar. There is very little transparency or accountability. There are other models across BC and Canada for more responsive, democratic, and local transit management - such as Victoria, which is managed directly by BC Transit, and Nelson, where transit is managed by the City of Nelson.
We are asking BC Transit and the Regional Districts of the Okanagan to find and implement a publicly-managed model that works for our community before the next contract renewal with TransDev.
2. Expand HandyDART service to 7 days a week, including public holidays.
HandyDART brings people with mobility challenges to doctors appointments, errands, and all kinds of activities - but they don’t have that option on Sundays or public holidays. Instead, passengers are offered a 50% subsidy on taxi fares, which can be significantly more expensive per trip5. As for any other community member, being able to get around the city is an essential need, and that need doesn’t go away on weekends. Year after year, the number one request from HandyDART users is to expand the public service to 365 days a year.
We are asking for an end to this discrimination, and funds for additional transit service to expand HandyDART to include Sundays and public holidays beginning in 2025. This would ideally happen province wide, and be led by BC Transit. As a medium-term solution, this could be funded directly by the Regional Districts of the Okanagan.
3. Maximize our current available service hours by developing frequent service in high density areas, and commit to a timeline for Kelowna’s new transit yard.
Transit in Kelowna is limited by the number of buses that can be held at the current transit yard. Buses that come only once an hour or a few times a day aren’t reliable enough for people’s daily needs. A smaller network of reliable, frequent routes can encourage riders in higher density areas to make the switch to transit. Outlying and rural areas also need reliable service, but may be better served by community buses, transit on-demand, or other creative solutions. One smaller city, St. Albert, Alberta, has been successful with transit on-demand. This would also provide greater accessibility for those who want a wheelchair spot on a conventional bus because they would have the agency to book their own trips and confirm their spot for the duration of their to/from trips. BC Transit has also recently committed to providing transit-on-demand for Crawford, in Kelowna.
We are asking BC Transit to prioritize the creation of at least three new frequent transit routes for each city in the Okanagan, with at least one in place for each city by the end of 2024.
We are also asking BC Transit and the Regional District of the Central Okanagan
to commit to a clear timeline for the creation of an expanded transit yard, to increase the number of buses available to the region.
4. Expand fare-free service from ages 12-and-under to ages 18-and-under.
Allowing youth to access our transit system without barriers can achieve multiple goals all at once: encouraging youth to use transit from an early age as an alternative to car dependence; giving them more freedom to get to work, see friends, and try new activities; and easing the cost of living for families in the Okanagan. Victoria, Kingston, and Oakville already have free transit programs for youth. The Kingston program increased youth ridership from 30,000 trips to 600,000 trips in the first year alone.6 There is widespread support for this ask across the province,7 and research shows that barrier-free access to public transit allows youth, and especially lower-income youth, to access new activities and services, feel a stronger sense of freedom, and to feel included with their peers.8
We are asking the province to expand the fare-free transit program to youth 18 and under, beginning in 2025.
We have significant support for these changes, and are turning to the appropriate levels of government to take action. Every day, thousands of trips are taken in vehicles in the Okanagan that are missed opportunities to grow our transit system. We recognize your ongoing efforts for sustainability, affordability, and inclusivity, and are excited to work together on achieving this through expanding public transit services.
Thank you for your consideration, we look forward to meeting with you at your earliest convenience to discuss this further.
Sincerely,
Okanagan Transit Alliance
And
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1722
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 HandyDART Vancouver
Banking on a Better Future
Chickpeace Zero Waste Refillery
Climate Action Now! (CAN!) of the North Okanagan
Firesen
First Things First Okanagan Climate Action
Fridays for Future Kelowna
Interior Watershed Task Force
Kelowna Area Cycling Coalition
Kelowna Climate Coalition
Kelowna Community Fridge
Kelowna Métis Association
Kelowna Tree Protectors
KLO Neighbourhood Association
Land to Table Network - North Okanagan
Nelson & Area Action Group for Better Public Transportation
Okanagan Climate Hub
Okanagan College Student Union
Peter A. Truch Independent Global Consultant
Ponderosa Education Community
Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture (RAMA)
Riley And Lucian FM
Rock on Collective
Students' Union Okanagan of UBC
Sustainable Environment Network Society
University of Victoria Student Society
Unrooz Solutions
Urban Harvest Organic Delivery