Transit service in the Victoria Region is funded through four main sources: provincial contributions, local government contributions, fuel tax and passenger fares.
The total cost to run the service last fiscal year was $155.6 million. Funding for the system came from transit fares (operations) and bus advertising ($26.3 million or 16.9 percent), BC Bus Pass ($4.8 million or 3.1 percent), local government property taxes (transfers) ($35.7 million or 22.9 percent), fuel tax ($17.9 million or 11.5 per cent) and provincial funding (transfers) ($62.2 million or 40 per cent) which includes a portion of the additional 17.3 million in Safe Restart Funding provided to the VRTC in 2021/22, funded equally by the Government of Canada and the Province of B.C.
By the Numbers
(2021/22 Fiscal Year End Actuals)
Total ridership: 16.8 million total trips, Total fleet: 355 (193 Heavy Duty, 69 High Capacity, 37 Medium Duty, 56 Light Duty) Total service hours for conventional service: 809,813 hours Total service hours for custom service: 122,117 hours
Victoria Regional Transit Overall Year End Performance (conventional)
Compared to similar sized systems across Canada, the Victoria Regional Transit System had:
• 79 per cent more passengers per capita • 36 per cent more passengers per hour • 7 per cent higher cost per total service hour • 47 per cent lower operating cost per passenger
Victoria Regional Transit System Comparison to Industry Benchmarks
The Victoria Regional Transit conventional service compares well to similar systems in the Canadian Urban Transit Authority (CUTA, 2021), Urban Transit Population Groups 2/3 Excerpt (service area population 200,001 – 580,000).
