Transit Today
Last year, over 24 million customers took transit in the Victoria Region.
In 1890, B.C.'s first transit system began in the capital city, Victoria. On opening day, over 4000 people boarded, and paid their nickel fare to travel down Store Street.
Today, streetcars have been replaced with over 300 buses travelling on 60 different routes and serving well over 350,000 residents in the Capital Regional District.
The top 5 busiest routes make up 50% of all trips made around our city:
- 14 UVic/Vic General Hospital
- 6 Esquimalt
- 27/28 Gordon Head/Majestic
- 26 UVic/Dockyard
- 30/31 James Bay/Royal Oak
The main road in Victoria, Douglas Street, stretches from downtown Victoria to the Trans Canada Highway. BC Transit currently has 20 popular transit routes travelling each day on Douglas that carry almost half of our customers daily. During our busiest parts of the day, buses run every 1 - 3 minutes.
The Provincial Transit Plan has set the goal of increasing transit market share in the Victoria region from 7% to 9.5% in 2020 and 12% in 2030. This means increasing Victoria regional transit ridership from 24 million in 2009/10 to 47 million passengers a year by 2030.
Our goal with Transit Future is to get more Islanders to take transit, creating less congested streets and a more livable community.