Public Consultation



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Transit Service & Funding

The Victoria Regional Transit system is facing challenges in coming years. As fuel, parts and other transit costs climb, and as our population and traffic increase, we are looking at ways to make the most effective use of our resources.

We've worked hard to be efficient. We've stretched our resources and made some difficult choices in setting priorities. The fact is, we do not have enough funding to maintain our current level of service beyond March 2004.

The Victoria Regional Transit Commission has joined many others in trying to persuade the federal government to increase its support for public transit. But in the immediate future the new funding needed to maintain service—let alone consider any service expansion—must come from local sources.

We Need Your Opinion

We need you to tell us what level of service you want in coming years. Here are three choices as we see them. You may wish to add others.

Operate the transit system with existing resources. This means:

Keeping transit service costs within the existing level of funding provided by provincial contributions, existing fares, property taxes and local gasoline taxes by reducing services when inflation and costs of providing service increase.
Continuing to reallocate conventional service from lower performing routes to areas of increasing demand.
Freezing the number of trips available on handyDART, and decrease the individual amount of taxi saver coupons allowed.

Maintain Existing Service. This means:

No added buses.
Continued reallocation of conventional service.
handyDART service and the Taxi Saver Program maintained, but unable to meet growing demand.
Increased fares and local taxes to cover increased costs of existing service.

Improve Transit Service. This means:

More buses, increased frequency and longer hours of operation on existing and new routes.
More express services.
New park 'n rides, bus lanes.
Improved booking technology and increased number of trips for handyDART.

Where do you think the money should come from?

We also need to know where you think the money should come from if we maintain or increase our current service. It is costing us $56 million to run the Victoria Regional Transit system this year. Five years from now, under a no-growth plan, we forecast that the cost of running today's level of service will be $67 million.

The Regional Transit System receives about 32% of its funding for conventional fixed-route transit and 63% of its funding for custom transit (handyDART and Taxi Saver) from the provincial government. Fares, advertising, regional fuel tax and local property taxes provide 68% of the total annual budget for transit (40% from fares, 14% from property tax and 14% from gasoline tax).

The provincial funding level has been maintained at the 2001/02 level for the past three years. Budget plans call for funding to be continued to be protected at the current level for at least the next two fiscal years.

The 2004-2009 Development Plan suggests that if service is increased 3% per year to meet growing demand and increase transit's share of the regional travel market, an additional $20 million dollars or an average of $4 million per year is needed from fares, property taxes or local gasoline taxes. In other words, about 6% more in fares and taxes is needed each year to fully fund a 3% annual increase in service.

Let Us Know What You Think

The date for adding your comments is now past. Thanks to all who submitted the survey, sent us an e-mail or called us. Please watch this page for future developments.

Transit Facts

85,000 passenger trips on a typical weekday.
9.7% of commuter trips to work are made by transit. This figure places Victoria 9th out of 27 Canadian metropolitan areas.
One full bus in rush hour carries more people than 40 single-occupant vehicles.
Conventional buses average about 33.7 rides per hour on each bus.
40,000 people in Greater Victoria currently hold monthly or annual passes
Operating cost per hour is $76.75 for conventional service, including wages, vehicles, fuel, maintenance, insurance and support costs.
handyDART provides an average 2.89 rides per hour.
Operating cost per hour is $45.06 for handyDART.
handyDART users make more than 300,000 annual door-to-door trips. There are approximately 4,700 active registrants, and the fleet has 42 accessible vehicles as well as taxi supplement.

Funding Facts

Adult cash fares have not changed since 1997.
Adult monthly passes have remained $55 since 2001.
Residential property tax per "average" residential house is about $38.00 per year.
The gasoline tax for transit has been 2.5 cents per litre since 1997.

How much new revenue could each source generate in a year?

Each of the following would provide transit with $3 million a year in new funding:

A $7 increase on each monthly bus pass and a 25-cent cash and ticket fare increase = $3 million a year

A $15 increase on annual average property tax = $3 million a year

A 1-cent/litre increase on local gas tax = $3 million a year