Phase 2 Public Engagement Complete – Thank You for your Feedback!
Thank you to everyone who attended our September Open House events and/or completed a survey.
With an estimated 80+ attendees over our three Open House sessions so far, and 54 responses to our online/paper survey, your feedback on our proposed transit service changes was overwhelmingly positive. Many thanks for participating and making these engagement activities a success!
Summaries of results and next steps are shown below.
A Service Review is a high-level analysis of an existing transit system and makes recommendations to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. While considering longer-term land use and demographic trends, a Service Review focuses on analyzing the current service, markets served, and current and future community needs based on community feedback and developing the transit priorities, infrastructure and investment needed within a three- to five-year timeframe.
Your Community Today
Transit has been operating in Dawson Creek since 1981. Today, it carries about 107,000 passengers per year on three routes: Route 1 Northside, Route 2 Southside, and Route 3 Central. Service is operated by Diversified Transportation Ltd (the operating company).
What’s Happened So Far?
In partnership with the City of Dawson Creek, BC Transit is undertaking a Transit Service Review of the Dawson Creek Transit System.
This Service Review is analyzing how transit service can best meet current and future community needs in Dawson Creek, while also providing recommendations to make using transit as attractive and cost-effective as possible. To date in 2016, the following actions have been taken:
Customer input gathered from drivers and through informal passenger interviews
Discussions held with Key Local Stakeholders such as School District 59, South Peace Community Resources, Better At Home, Nawican Friendship Centre, Step Up & Ride, and Kiwanis Child Care Centre.
Various types of ridership data gathered to analyze route- and system-level performance
Using local input, ridership analysis, and industry best practices, service change proposals developed and discussed with City of Dawson Creek staff and Council.
Interim Project Report discussed with City of Dawson Creek staff and presented to Council (copy of presentation availablehere)
Phase 2 Public Engagement to receive local residents’ feedback on the proposed service changes developed:
September 8-30: Online survey
September 19-20: Three public Open Houses (Seniors’ Hall and Co-Op Mall)
Phase 2 Public Engagement results tabulated and summarized (shown below)
Next Steps
The Dawson Creek Transit System Interim Project Report will be finalized to include Phase 2 Public Engagement results and considerations stemming from these results for the proposed service changes, as well as details of community context research and comparison of the Dawson Creek Transit System’s key performance indicators with transit systems of similar size and type within B.C.
This report will be discussed firstly with City of Dawson Creek staff, before being presented to City Council with service change recommendations for Council approval.
A Memorandum of Understanding for service change implementation of approved change recommendations will then be issued, including a timeline towards implementation.
In conjunction with local infrastructure work, implementation of approved service changes is being targeted for September 2017.
Contact
If you have any further questions about the Service Review process, please contact the project team at: dawsoncreek@bctransit.com
Summary of Results So Far*
Proposal
I Support
Doesn’t Matter To Me
I Don’t Support
Route 3 Central: Rerouting via Alaska Hwy, Peavey Mart, and Tim Hortons and reversing direction through No Frills
83
10
0
Route 2 Southside: Increasing service coverage area by routing via 15 St between 108 Ave and 102 Ave, then 102 Ave to 103 Ave
73
7
0
Improving schedules for school bell times
63
2
0
Improving midday service frequency
59
11
0
Route 1 Northside: Extending service to Sunset Ridge
54
8
0
Route 2 Southside: Service to Aquatic Centre service on all trips through removal of Canalta School loop
58
12
1
Evening service: Discontinue Route 1 Northside 7:20 p.m., Route 2 Southside 6 p.m., and Route 3 Central 6:22 p.m. trips
39
10
8
*For the 54 online/paper survey responses, votes have been adjusted where necessary based on accurate understanding of the changes proposed and questions asked.
