BC TRANSIT'S STRATEGIC PLAN 2030

Shaping our future 

BC TRANSIT’S STRATEGIC PLAN 2030

Table of Contents 

1.0 INTRODUCTION: THE NEED TO SHAPE OUR FUTURE 5 

2.0 BC TRANSIT TODAY 7 

Organizational Scope 7 

The Shared Services Model 9 

Our Evolving Mandate 10 

3.0 EVALUATING BC TRANSIT’S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES 13 

Stakeholder Consultation 13 

Our Strengths 14 

Our Weaknesses: What needs improving 15 

4.0 ASSESSING TOMORROW’S OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES 17 

Future Opportunities: Transit’s Potential 17 

Future Challenges and Trends 17 

5.0 OUR PLAN: SHAPING BC TRANSIT FOR THE FUTURE 21 

A Renewed Vision, Mission, Values 22 

Objectives, Priorities, and Actions 23 

1. Develop Financial Sustainability 24 

2. Support and Shape Livable Communities 30 

3. Change the Perception of Transit 34 

4. Deliver Operational Excellence 37 

5. Strengthen our People and Partnerships 41 

6.0 MOVING FORWARD 45 

Review and Renewal 45 

Public Involvement 45 

Implementation and Monitoring 45 

7.0 CONCLUSION 46 

FURTHER INFORMATION 

Map of BC Transit Systems 47 

Acknowledgements 48 

Contact Us 48

A Message from the Chair 

In January 2008, the B.C. provincial government 

confirmed its commitment to climate action and 

improved public transit through the release of 

the Provincial Transit Plan. In response to this 

commitment and in preparation for turning the 

Transit Plan into reality, BC Transit embarked on a 

comprehensive re-evaluation and renewal of its 

structure and services. 

This period of re-evaluation has already resulted 

in a new internal structure to more effectively and 

efficiently serve our customers. It has also seen the 

implementation of several new business practices 

to increase oversight, reduce or stabilize costs, and 

improve service. 

This strategic plan represents the next phase of 

renewal. It is based on an analysis of current and 

future trends, and on a significant amount of 

consultation with our customers, employees, local 

government partners, and suppliers. This plan 

describes what BC Transit should look like and how 

it needs to change to best serve our customers 

and increase its viability and self-reliance in the 

years ahead. It also recognizes the need for a more 

holistic and integrated approach to our sustainable 

transportation networks. 

The Provincial Transit Plan lays out an ambitious 

path to improve transportation in communities 

across B.C. This strategic plan outlines how 

BC Transit must further evolve its mandate, 

structure, and priorities in order to successfully 

deliver on that objective. 

Kevin Mahoney 

Chair, BC Transit Board of Directors 

2 BC TRANSIT’S STRATEGIC PLAN | 2030

A Message from the President and CEO 

The coming decades will present environmental, 

economic, and social challenges. They also present 

an opportunity to transform our communities into 

places that are even healthier and more livable. 

Building sustainable transportation networks that 

integrate and promote walking, cycling, and transit 

will be key in realizing that vision. 

More than ever before, we need to be in the 

business of moving people. This focus on 

sustainable mobility means looking at new 

markets, services, and opportunities. 

Since its creation 30 years ago, BC Transit has 

proven itself to be an innovator. BC Transit 

consistently delivers services that carry more 

passengers and that are less costly than those of 

their Canadian peers. This plan presents a blueprint 

for how that continued commitment to innovation, 

customer service, and effectiveness can be 

improved to see us through the coming decades 

of change. It also affirms BC Transit’s focus on 

encouraging sustainable types of travel by better 

linking land use and transportation decisions. 

As one of the many employees, customers, and 

partners who participated in the creation of this 

plan, I am proud to present it as our statement of 

how we intend to offer even better value to all who 

use and fund our services, and how we aim to help 

create a more sustainable future with communities 

across B.C. 

Manuel Achadinha 

President and CEO 

BC TRANSIT’S STRATEGIC PLAN | 2030 

3

there is an 

imperative 

to create 

transportation 

choices 

1 

Introduction: 

The need to shape our future 

In the 2008 Provincial Transit Plan, the 

British Columbia provincial government set 

a very ambitious goal for BC Transit: double 

transit ridership by 2020. This goal gives BC 

Transit tremendous potential to contribute 

to stronger, more sustainable communities. 

It also requires that BC Transit assess how 

it plans, invests in, and promotes public 

transportation throughout the province. 

At the same time, we know that our world 

is in transition. 

The changes around us bring different 

technologies and opportunities to engage 

citizens, attract new customers, and build 

diverse partnerships. 

We also know that the next 20 years will 

provide some real challenges, including a 

shifting climate, an aging population, and a 

significantly more unpredictable energy and 

economic picture. 

Given these realities, there is a strong 

imperative to create transportation choices. 

Many factors—energy constraints, an 

aging society, the desire for better personal 

health—mean that the dependence on 

private automobiles, which has substantially 

shaped our society and communities over 

the past 60 years, is not sustainable over the 

long term. 

Automobiles are useful tools. But in order 

to make our communities resilient for a 

changing future, it is crucial that we shift 

the balance to make it easier for people to 

connect and meet their needs by walking, 

cycling, and using public transit. 

Even more importantly, we need to build a 

common understanding of what life would 

be like with more transportation choices: 

more opportunities to live healthily, more 

social connection, and more vibrant 

public spaces. 

This plan presents BC Transit’s vision and 

strategic goals for the future. It is a result of 

a province-wide process launched in April 

2009 to look at the coming challenges and 

opportunities, and determine priorities 

for action. This plan guides the long term 

direction of BC Transit and provides the 

framework for more detailed capital plans, 

business plans, and budgets to follow. 

The renewed vision, mission, and priorities 

presented in this plan outline BC Transit’s 

commitment to developing self-reliance and 

long term viability. It affirms how we will 

work with our customers, employees, and 

partners to create integrated transportation 

solutions and services that offer choices. 

Above all, this plan describes how we intend 

to help connect people and communities to 

a more sustainable future. 


5

The Value of Transit 

Transit investment benefits society 

ÌÌ Transit reduces infrastructure costs by decreasing the land, 

construction, and maintenance costs for expanded roadways 

and parking facilities, as well as by reducing traffic control and 

enforcement costs. 

ÌÌ Transit reduces congestion costs by decreasing the lost time 

and productivity that result from longer travel times because 

of traffic delays. 

ÌÌ Transit reduces environmental impacts: an average transit 

trip results in significantly less energy use and pollution 

production per person than the same trip made by private 

automobile. Transit also requires less land consumption for 

road space and parking. 

ÌÌ Transit improves development of livable communities by 

encouraging more efficient and pedestrian friendly land use 

patterns that reduce automobile dependence. 

ÌÌ Transit improves economic and social development by 

enabling access to employment, education, healthcare, 

services, and amenities, by offering stable locally-based 

employment through transit jobs, and by providing 

businesses with better access to employees and markets. 

ÌÌ Transit improves mobility, accessibility, and civic participation 

for people who do not have access to other modes of travel 

because of age, disability, or income. 

ÌÌ Transit increases independent living and freedom to travel 

for seniors, people with a disability, and others. This can allow 

people to live in their own homes longer and 

avoid or delay moving to expensive institutional care.

2 

BC Transit today 

ORGANIZATIONAL SCOPE 

BC Transit is the provincial Crown agency charged with coordinating public 

transportation systems throughout British Columbia outside of Metro Vancouver. 

Across the province, BC Transit works in partnership with 57 local governments, 

including the Victoria Regional Transit Commission. BC Transit’s mandate includes 

planning, funding, marketing, managing fleet, and contracting for the operations of 

transit services. 

According to the British Columbia Transit Act (Section 3.1), BC Transit is to: 

“... plan, acquire, construct or cause to be constructed public passenger transportation 

systems and rail systems that support regional growth strategies, official community 

plans, and the economic development of transit service areas, [and] to provide for the 

maintenance and operation of those systems.” 

In 2009/10 BC Transit carried over 49 million passengers on more than 81 

transit systems. 

Organizational scope (March 2010) 

ÌÌ 57 local government partners, including the Victoria 

Regional Transit Commission. 

ÌÌ Contracts with 20 private management companies and 

15 non‐profit agencies. 

ÌÌ Over 49 million passengers carried in 2009/10. 

ÌÌ Service provided to over 1.5 million B.C. residents. 

ÌÌ 81 transit systems with conventional, custom, and 

paratransit services. 

ÌÌ Fleet of 1,003 conventional and double-deck buses, 

minibuses, and vans. 

ÌÌ $252 million annual expenditures. 


7

THE SHARED SERVICES MODEL 

In most BC Transit systems, service is provided 

through a partnership between BC Transit, local 

government, and a transit management company. 

Under this partnership model, BC Transit provides 

funding, planning, marketing, fleet management, 

and contract administration services for each 

system. Sponsoring local governments provide 

the remaining portion of funding (less passenger 

fares), approve service levels and fare structures, 

and maintain transit facilities, such as bus stops, 

exchanges, and shelters. 

A contracted transit management company 

operates the service, including hiring and training 

drivers, providing front-line customer service, and 

maintaining vehicles. 

A range of private and non-profit companies 

operate BC Transit’s services. In some locations— 

the Regional District of Nanaimo, City of Nelson, 

City of Powell River, and the Sunshine Coast 

Regional District—the sponsoring local 

government operates the system. 

In the case of the Victoria Regional Transit System, 

BC Transit operates the conventional service, and 

a private transit management company operates 

handyDART services through contract. 

BC Transit’s operation of the Victoria conventional 

system—which was inherited from BC Hydro 

and other predecessor companies—provides the 

organization with further efficiencies through the 

sharing of services. This in-house operation is also 

a forum for developing operational practices that 

can be shared with other communities. 

The Victoria Regional Transit Commission 

fulfills the role of local government by setting 

routes, service levels, fares, and local taxation 

requirements for transit. The Commission also 

reviews and is responsible for raising the local 

share of the annual cost of transit in the region. 

Unique in the transit industry, BC Transit’s 

collaborative, shared-services partnership model 

offers excellent value by: 

•• Pooling expertise and best practices in areas 

such as planning and financial monitoring; 

•• Lowering costs through bulk purchase of 

supplies and assets, such as fuel and vehicles; 

•• Providing a framework to oversee and invest 

in transit on a provincial scale rather than on a 

less collaborative municipality by municipality 

basis common elsewhere; 

•• Supporting operational efficiency through 

private sector contracts for the operation of 

many of our systems. 

On average, BC Transit’s systems carry more 

passengers per hour of service and are used by 

a higher proportion of residents than their peer 

systems in other Canadian communities. At the 

same time, costs for service are consistently 

lower than similar Canadian systems (Canadian 

Urban Transit Association data). 

Transit services offered 

BC Transit’s systems are as diverse as our province and include a 

range of service types: 

ÌÌ 

Conventional transit serves the general population in more 

urban settings and offers scheduled bus service that operates 

on fixed routes. Most vehicles are accessible and range in 

size from minibuses to double-deck buses in order to best 

match ridership and community needs. Rail-based service is 

currently under evaluation in several of our communities. 

ÌÌ 

ÌÌ 

Custom transit employs vans, minibuses and taxis for diala-ride, 

and door-to-door handyDART service for passengers 

with disabilities who cannot use conventional transit. 

Contracted taxi supplement and taxi saver (discounted 

coupon) programs complement these services. 

Paratransit serves small town, rural, and Aboriginal 

communities as well as some suburban areas using 

minibuses, taxis, and vans for flexible routing and schedules. 


9

OUR EVOLVING MANDATE 

BC Transit began in 1979 when the provincial 

government created the Urban Transit 

Authority (UTA), a new Crown corporation 

charged with coordinating the planning, 

marketing, and funding of municipal transit 

systems throughout the province. Prior to 1979, 

the Ministry of Municipal Affairs was responsible 

for public transit. 

Starting with 13 systems, the vision for the 

UTA was to provide local governments with 

an increased role in the decision making and 

funding of their community transit systems. 

Other key objectives cited at the time for the 

UTA were to more comprehensively integrate 

transportation into community planning and 

reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The UTA 

also had an objective to better coordinate the 

delivery of public transit to reduce confusion 

and duplication of effort between levels 

of government. 

The following decades saw a number of changes. These changes 

included the transfer of operation of the Victoria and Vancouver 

transit systems from BC Hydro to the organization that would 

later be renamed BC Transit in 1982. In 1999, Metro Vancouver 

transit services shifted from BC Transit to the Greater Vancouver 

Transportation Authority (TransLink, now the South Coast British 

Columbia Transportation Authority). 

Over this period, BC Transit’s shared services model and funding 

formula generally proved to be successful and resulted in a 

significant increase in communities with transit systems. 

BC Transit’s growth 1979 to 2009 

1979 1989 1999 2009/10 

Number of Systems 13 47 57 81 

Vehicles 190 322 642 1,003 

Annual Operating Cost (Million)* $57.6 $72.9 $130.5 $252 

Annual Ridership (Million) 19.2 21.1 29.5 49.3 

* historical costs adjusted to 2009 dollars ** year end estimate 

Other than changes made to the British Columbia Transit Act in 

1996 to include references to regional growth strategies, official 

community plans, and economic development, BC Transit’s 

formally legislated mandate has not changed significantly over 

the years. 

Milestones in BC Transit’s development 

1979 1980 1981 1982 1992 1996 

Urban Transit Authority (UTA) 

formed. 

Operation of Victoria and 

Vancouver transit systems 

transferred from 

BC Hydro to what would 

eventually become 

BC Transit. 

First handyDART systems 

launched in B.C. for people 

with a disability. 

UTA becomes BC Transit. 

Introduction of first low-floor 

buses in transit service in 

North America. 

BC Transit is rated number 

one North American system 

by the American Public Transit 

Association. Start of large 

expansion period to increase 

share of commuter market in 

many systems. 


However, the actual services or lived mandate 

that the provincial government has asked the 

organization to fulfill in order to meet other 

provincial objectives has expanded significantly 

and includes: 

•• Improving community social, economic, and 

financial sustainability through the provision 

of effective transit while simultaneously 

reducing transportation costs, energy 

consumption, and social costs; 

•• Leading provincial public transit climate change 

initiatives by increasing the proportion of 

people who use public transit as their primary 

way to get around; 

•• Supporting rural and First Nations communities 

by enabling residents to connect to each other 

and link to education, health, and other services 

and daily needs; 

•• 

Improving the inclusiveness of communities 

by providing a range of public transit services 

and amenities designed to meet standards of 

universal accessibility. These services enable 

people to grow older while remaining in their 

own homes and communities for as long 

as possible. 

The process to develop this strategic plan 

highlighted the need to clarify BC Transit’s mandate 

and take the formal steps required to better align 

legislation and reality. This is particularly important 

given the scale of potential investment in transit 

and the need to focus and prepare the organization 

for the coming decades of change. A broader 

mandate is necessary to support community land 

use planning and transportation networks that 

encourage a range of travel types. 

The strategic planning process also showed that in order to 

position transit for the future we need to revise legislation, 

governance structures, and revenue constraints. In the past, these 

constraints have hindered transit’s development; in the future, they 

will only further impede its success. 

Like the start of BC Transit’s predecessor in 1979, there are 

opportunities to improve the coordination of transit in B.C. 

We can also reduce confusion and duplication of effort by 

re‐examining our governance models and how we assign and 

monitor responsibilities between partners. 

This strategic plan not only defines our priorities for the coming 

decades but also outlines how we believe BC Transit’s core—its 

vision, mission, values, and legislative framework—must be 

renewed and restated in order to increase our organization’s selfreliance 

and to continue to deliver the best value possible to the 

public we serve. 

1998 1999 2000 2005 2010 

University of Victoria and 

Victoria’s Camosun College 

launch first U-PASS in Western 

Canada. 

Operation of Metro 

Vancouver Transit services 

passes to the newly 

formed Greater Vancouver 

Transportation Authority 

(TransLink, now the South 

Coast British Columbia 

Transportation Authority). 

First low-floor, double-deck 

buses in North America 

(Victoria). 

First production hybrid buses 

in Canada (Kelowna). 

World’s largest singlelocation 

hydrogen fuel cell 

fleet implemented in regular 

service (Whistler). 


11

3STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION 

Evaluating BC Transit’s 

strengths and weaknesses 

One principle guiding the development of BC Transit’s strategic 

plan was to involve as many people as possible in its development, 

particularly those people who use, plan, deliver, or fund our services. 

These are the people who will be most critical to our plan’s successful 

implementation. 

In that spirit, a wide range of our employees, local government 

partners, operating company staff, customers, and other stakeholders 

participated in plan development. These participants represented 

communities across the province. 

BC Transit gathered participant comments and ideas through various 

mediums, including workshops, open houses, online surveys, an 

online discussion forum, and one-on-one discussions. We provided 

a formal discussion paper and request for input to senior staff 

of partner local governments. We also invited our customers to 

participate in the strategic plan through advertising on buses and 

our website’s homepage. 

Through a range of questions and processes, participants provided 

us with comments on the following: 

•• The strengths and weaknesses of our current organization 

and suggestions for improvements; 

•• The opportunities and challenges that will face communities 

and transportation networks over the next 20 years; 

•• Their vision of successful public transportation in 2030; 

•• Their ideas on required changes at the local and provincial 

levels in order to realize that vision; 

•• The values that should govern BC Transit’s conduct 

and development. 

The following sections provide a summary of what we heard 

from participants. 


13

OUR STRENGTHS 

In general, participants saw BC Transit as a good place to work and 

regarded us as an organization that offers valuable service to our 

partners and customers. 

•• 

Our customers often noted the social benefits of transit 

and saw BC Transit as a provider of a valuable service. Other 

strengths included the express and higher frequency services we 

implemented, the mixture of smaller and larger vehicles used to 

right-size service to particular neighbourhoods, and the amenities 

we have introduced, such as bike racks. 

•• 

Our employees most commonly saw BC Transit as a positive 

workplace that offers good wages and benefits, job flexibility, and 

opportunities for professional development. They also saw the 

organization as innovative, friendly, and customer oriented. 

•• 

Our external partners (including local government elected 

officials and staff, and transit management company staff) most 

commonly noted the benefits of the shared services model as 

our chief strength, particularly the model’s access to funding, 

expertise, innovation, and lowered costs through bulk purchase 

of fuel and services. Although they also noted exceptions to the 

case and opportunities for improvement, in general they saw us as 

responsive to issues and oriented to individual community needs.

OUR WEAKNESSES 

What needs improving 

When asked to identify our weaknesses or those areas of our organization in most need of improvement, by far the 

most common comments from all stakeholders were requests relating to more predictable funding and budgets, 

better communication and information sharing, and clarified roles, responsibilities, and expectations. 

Our Customers want transit services that continue to improve in terms of 

frequency, reliability, availability, and faster travel times. Other top customer 

priorities for improvement included the following: 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

Transit travel that is simpler to use and understand and more friendly, clean, and safe; 

Better use of new customer information technologies, such as online trip planners, 

real time next trip information at major exchanges, and downloads to mobile devices; 

Improved responsiveness to customer needs and more opportunities for 

customers to own their transit experiences, provide feedback, and shape transit 

system decision making; 

A desire for transit to help increase the environmental sustainability of their 

communities: this is a reminder that our customers—like our transit system staff 

across the province—represent tremendous potential as our advocates and allies. 

Our Local Government Partners saw the lack of multi-year, predictable 

revenue sources and budgets as by far the greatest weakness to our current 

organization and structure. Other local government priority requests for improvement 

included the following: 

•• More timely communication, especially about important decisions and 

•• 

•• 

project delays; 

Clarified roles and responsibilities, particularly with respect to transit system 

decision making, the upkeep and location of transit facilities, and local business 

development and marketing; 

An increased community presence: more involvement in community events, 

more opportunities to engage local residents in decision making, and increased 

opportunities for BC Transit staff presence in communities to provide on-site 

expertise and leadership. 

Our Employees want our organization to better integrate and share 

information across departments and transit systems, and to better clarify roles, 

policies, and expectations. On a transit system level, employees had many suggestions 

to better inform and serve customers. Other employee top requests for improvement 

included the following: 

•• Continued development of decision-making rigour and transparency; 

•• More opportunities for employee input into decisions; 

•• Longer term revenue and cost predictability in order for employees to accomplish 

their jobs effectively and efficiently; 

•• Better alignment between expectations (from the province, partners, and public) 

and capacity to deliver; 

•• More freedom/authorization to pursue new revenue sources and community 

involvement, such as charter services and engagement in major festivals. 

Our Contracted Transit Management Companies saw the need for 

clarified policies and expectations as the most pressing areas for improvement. 

Similar to BC Transit employees, other top requests included the following: 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

Continued improvement to transit services and tools to better serve the needs of 

customers; 

Better integration and information sharing between departments and transit 

systems; 

Increased local transit staff engagement in decision making; 

Longer term revenue and budget predictability, with many operating company 

staff noting the challenge of pulling together elements needed to implement new 

transit services when the dates and scope of service keep changing in response to 

shifting budgets. 


15

4 

Assessing tomorrow’s 

opportunities and challenges 

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES: 

TRANSIT’S POTENTIAL 

Our stakeholders saw overwhelming potential for transit in the 

future. In their vision, successful public transit in 2030 is: 

Fast, reliable, and accessible to all people and ranges of mobility. 

Easy to use through improved technology and design. 

Integrated with key destinations, regional hubs, community 

development, and other types of travel, particularly walking 

and cycling. 

Inviting – safe, clean, and accessible to all. 

Responsive – engaging customers and communities in its evolution. 

Cost-effective – affordable and making efficient use of its resources. 

Positive – part of a healthy, socially responsible lifestyle. 

Sustainable – not only providing positive environmental and social 

benefits but financially and structurally organized to be viable and 

grow with communities over the long term. 

FUTURE CHALLENGES 

AND TRENDS 

Several key trends that will shape the future of transit are evident 

in both stakeholder feedback and internal research and analysis. 

The following section describes the most pivotal for transit. 

Our aging population 

Between 2006 and 2036, the proportion of B.C.’s population that is 

age 65 or older is expected to grow from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. 

At the same time, it is expected that people will live longer. 

Meeting the needs of more seniors in our population and helping 

them to live independently for as long as possible means that we 

need to plan now to further improve the accessibility, ease-of-use, 

and the real and perceived safety of our transit systems. It also 

means attracting and orienting people to transit who previously 

may have been auto‐dependent. At the same time, more seniors in 

our society means that we will have fewer working tax payers to 

help pay for transit service (and all public services in general) and 

fewer potential employees to help operate transit systems. 


17

Continued growth, urbanization, and regionalization 

By 2036, B.C.’s population is expected to grow from 

4.4 million to 6 million. Barring a severe disruption in 

the supply of food or fuel, this population growth 

will likely continue to concentrate in urban centres, 

particularly on eastern Vancouver Island, the Southern 

Interior, and areas adjacent to Metro Vancouver. 

Depending on how well we shape our communities 

and prioritize greener transportation, this growth will 

impact congestion, pollution, and the effectiveness and 

efficiency of transit systems. 

In rural or resource-based towns, populations may 

decrease or shift in age faster than other locations. 

Continued policies to regionalize health care and 

education in many communities will increase the need 

for residents to travel regionally. Populations may also 

continue to become more regional based on where 

housing is perceived to be more affordable (which may 

or may not be more affordable when additional travel 

times and costs are factored in). 

All of these factors affect the nature of transit services 

and increase the need for communities to connect. 

In the case of smaller towns whose populations are 

plateauing or shrinking, there will be a growing need 

for transit to connect residents to regionalized services. 

At the same time, these communities may not have the 

property tax base to pay for it. 

Increasing the knowledge of both the public and 

decision makers on the links between land use and 

transportation will be key in successfully shaping 

the impacts of population change. BC Transit also 

needs to take a more active role working with health 

organizations, school districts, and existing intercity 

transportation providers to meet the challenge of 

more regionalized communities and ensure that the 

full impact of decisions are considered before they 

are made. 

Energy volatility 

BC Transit’s fleet consumes over 24 million litres of diesel 

fuel per year. Although BC Transit has been actively 

implementing new technologies to reduce fuel usage, 

the future of oil and other energy supplies represent a 

real risk to transit. Increasing energy prices impact the 

cost of vehicle fuel, the cost of facilities and parts, and 

the ability of provincial and local governments to fund 

services. An abrupt change in world energy pricing 

may also affect demand for transit services, security 

considerations, and our ability to meet demand. 

Mitigating this risk means increasing our energy 

efficiency, better diversifying our energy sources (to 

electric grid or other), and retrofitting our facilities, 

vehicles, and communities. We must also seize the 

opportunity to reduce our fossil fuel reliance and 

emissions and gain new riders as fuel prices rise. 

Significant mitigation, however, requires commitment 

and resources now. The vehicles we purchase today will 

be with us for their lifespan of 12 to 20 years. Every year 

of delay in preparing for a new energy picture means 

another year where we are faced with the challenge 

of keeping our existing diesel buses running while 

simultaneously implementing new technologies. 

A shifting climate 

The future of transit in B.C. will involve mitigating and 

adapting to climate change. Mitigation strategies to 

reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will result 

in additional costs for BC Transit because of carbon 

taxes and offset payments, implementation of new 

technologies (as outlined previously), and meeting new 

regulations. BC Transit’s role in reducing the estimated 

45 per cent of B.C. household GHG emissions related to 

private use of cars and trucks will also have benefits. 


These benefits include new customers, opportunities, 

and healthier communities. 

At the same time, BC Transit will need to adapt to 

the effects of a changing climate. This may include 

adjusting to the effects of ongoing drought in some 

regions, the continued allocation of transit buses as 

emergency transports during forest fires and other 

extreme weather events, and increased insurance costs. 

Changing weather and pest and disease patterns may 

also affect the local economies and passenger travel in 

communities that are particularly heavily reliant on large 

scale agriculture, forestry, or weather-related tourism, 

such as skiing. 

A less predictable economy 

The economic picture has changed substantially since 

fall 2008. Given that each of the trends previously 

noted—population growth and aging, energy volatility, 

and climate change—could have sizable impacts on 

local and provincial economies, economic trends will 

likely be unpredictable. This unpredictability could 

affect the availability of provincial and local funding 

for transit. It may also impact ridership positively 

(through decreased automobile ownership and higher 

costs of driving) or negatively (because of fewer 

commute‐related trips). 

When it comes to longer term economic viability, 

investment in transit offers key benefits to communities. 

Transit is part of the growing green economy and offers 

stable employment rooted in local economies. Since 

the largest portion of any transit system’s budget funds 

the wages and benefits for drivers, maintenance staff, 

and other local transit employees, every dollar invested 

in transit provides a needed service in a community and 

generates local investment. 

Continued technological evolution 

Technology presents tremendous opportunities to 

better engage and inform our customers, share best 

practices among employees and transit systems, reduce 

environmental impacts, and improve the efficiency 

and reliability of our services. The public increasingly 

expects transit to make use of the latest available 

technologies. Potential risks related to new technologies 

include costs associated with their implementation and 

the need to ensure that they are viable and compatible 

over the longer term. 

The quest for connection 

Several social factors will likely continue to shape our 

world over the years ahead. In response to the recent 

economic downturn and the tendency for people 

to crave connection and meaning, the idea of “the 

good life” is shifting from the quantity of consumer 

goods owned to the quality of social interactions. An 

appreciation for a more local and sustainable way of life 

is growing. The internet has created an online world that 

is instantly participatory and endlessly customizable. 

Transit could gain new customers from these trends 

by increasing the sense of ownership in our systems 

and describing public transportation for what it is at 

heart: socially responsible behaviour that is part of a 

sustainable lifestyle. 

This evaluation of future trends shows considerable 

challenges for our society and the organization and 

structure of BC Transit. Transit will have a crucial role in 

addressing and mitigating most of these challenges. 

Public transportation and other greener modes of travel 

will have a greater role in the future. 


19

5 

Our Plan: 

Shaping BC Transit for the future 

To address the existing strengths and 

weaknesses of our organization and prepare for 

the opportunities and challenges ahead, this 

strategic plan renews BC Transit and positions the 

organization to take a more active role in ensuring 

our long term success. 

To shape BC Transit for the future, this plan 

redefines the concepts that are at the core of our 

organization: our vision, mission, and values. It 

also presents a series of priority objectives and 

actions that are key if we are to learn from the 

past and take public transportation to the next 

level of quality, ridership, and effectiveness. 


21

A RENEWED VISION 

A vision expresses what future success looks like for an organization. BC Transit will need to embody 

four key traits in order to successfully navigate the future: 

•• 

We will need to take a greater leadership role than we have in the past to actively create the 

conditions for success. 

•• 

We will need our systems to be integrated to allow for seamless travel across our services, 

connection to the daily life of our communities through good land use planning, and easy links to 

other forms of transportation, particularly walking and cycling. 

•• 

We need to connect people and communities not only to each other by the transit services that 

we provide but also to innovation and best practices through the professional transportation 

expertise we offer. 

•• 

We will need to recognize our critical role shaping a more sustainable future since public 

transportation helps build healthy, resilient communities that will be able to meet and embrace the 

economic, environmental, and social changes ahead. 

A RENEWED MISSION 

A mission describes what an organization does, who it does it for, 

and how it excels. Looking at BC Transit’s services, our greatest 

strengths, and the value that we must continue to offer, we have 

established the following renewed mission: 

Our Mission 

Through the strength of our people and partners, we provide 

safe, effective, customer-focussed transportation solutions 

that link communities, businesses, and lifestyles. 

In order to exemplify these traits and position our organization for the future, we have developed 

a renewed vision: 

Our Vision 

To be a leader of integrated transportation solutions connecting people and communities to 

a more sustainable future. 


RENEWED VALUES 

We need to retain and embrace the following six values to guide our future decisions 

and development: 

Our Values 

Safety – We will ensure and improve the safety and security of our employees, customers, 

and assets. 

Customer Service – We will work with our customers to meet and exceed their needs 

and expectations. 

Sustainability – We will measure, improve, and be accountable for our environmental, financial, 

and social results. 

Integrity – As stewards of public resources, we will use our assets prudently and be honest, 

professional, and respectful in our communications and conduct. 

OBJECTIVES, PRIORITIES, 

AND ACTIONS 

The following sections present objectives, priorities, and actions 

that will support BC Transit’s drive to implement the Provincial 

Transit Plan, continue to improve our effectiveness and efficiency, 

and provide the best possible value to the public. 

These priorities and actions are centred on the objectives of 

developing organizational financial sustainability, supporting and 

shaping livable communities, changing the perception of transit, 

delivering operational excellence, and strengthening our people 

and partnerships. 

Objectives are numbered for reference, however, we must strongly 

emphasize that the numbering does not reflect priority ranking. All 

objectives are interrelated and interdependent and are equally vital 

to transit’s success. 

Innovation – We will develop new opportunities and ways of doing business, and will work to 

continuously improve the value and quality of our services. 

Collaboration – We will cultivate strong partnerships, recognize communities’ complex needs, 

and create services and opportunities that promote healthy communities and enable choice and 

connection with other types of travel. 


23

Objective 1 

Develop Financial Sustainability 

Meeting the demand and expectations for transit now and in 

the future requires that we secure the long term viability of 

transit by systematically renewing and revising our revenue 

sources, structures, and internal processes. 

Creating sustainable transportation networks is no longer a fringe 

public concern—as it might have been when BC Transit was first 

created—but will be a key element in enabling our communities 

to function in the future. 

The funding, governance, and service models created for BC Transit 

30 years ago need retooling to support the shift from the periphery 

of transportation options to the core. 

As described in section 3.0, Evaluating BC Transit’s strengths and 

weaknesses, the three most common requests for improvement 

to BC Transit’s existing organization and structure are for more 

predictable funding and budgets, better communication 

and information sharing, and clarified roles, responsibilities, 

and expectations. 

The following priorities and actions directly address how we will 

achieve these improvements.

Priority 1.1 

Develop stable and predictable revenue sources 

BC Transit’s ability to attract customers and 

shift travel patterns is directly related to the 

quality of the service we deliver. Improving 

that quality means continuing to increase the 

safety, effectiveness, and customer focus of our 

business. It also means building the frequency, 

convenience, and reliability of our services. 

Efforts to build service quality will be futile if they 

are not underpinned by stable and predictable 

revenue sources. However, as outlined on the 

following page, several legislative and structural 

issues currently impede BC Transit’s ability to set 

a longer term financial course or develop new 

revenue sources. Addressing these structural 

issues will improve the long term viability of our 

provincial and local revenue sources and will 

enable development of new revenue sources. 

The current process of confirming provincial 

transit funding on a year-by-year basis from 

general revenues inhibits the ability for BC Transit 

and our local government partners to efficiently 

plan and implement improvements. Over the 

past decade, local government requests to 

fund expanded transit services have exceeded 

provincial government ability to match funding. 

BC Transit aims to address these issues by 

developing dedicated and predictable provincial 

revenue sources outside the annual provincial 

budgeting process so that transit service 

objectives like those outlined in the Provincial 

Transit Plan can be met. 

On a local basis, transit revenue sources for 

most communities are limited to property taxes 

and passenger fares. Property taxation lacks 

the flexibility to adapt quickly to service or cost 

changes. Over time, revenue from property 

taxes will lack the capacity to meet the level of 

investment required to substantially improve 

service. Passenger fares can only be raised so 

far before they hinder ridership growth. The 

current placement of fares under the authority of 

individual local governments makes it harder to 

coordinate and market regional fares and travel. 

BC Transit intends to work with local 

governments and the provincial government 

to assess and implement governance changes. 

These changes would allow access to other 

revenue sources and mitigate some of the risks 

associated with current sources. 

BC Transit also needs to take a leadership role 

in developing additional new revenue sources. 

Existing legislation governing BC Transit is unclear 

about the organization’s ability to develop other 

revenue streams and how additional revenues or 

cost offsets should be shared. 

It is essential that BC Transit clarify and advance 

the ability to use its assets and resources to 

undertake profitable commercial activities. This 

shift will improve operating efficiency and enable 

reinvestment of new revenues in services. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will work with 

its provincial and local partners to develop 

stable and predictable revenue sources so that 

BC Transit and our partners can plan, prioritize, 

and implement transit improvements over the 

longer term horizon. 

Summary of Proposed Actions 

Develop stable revenue sources 

•• Assess various approaches to developing stable, secure 

provincial investment in transit. 

•• Work to implement new revenue sources. 

•• Assess various approaches to developing stable, secure local 

investment in transit. 

•• Initiate a revenue committee to manage fare revenue strategies 

in partnership with local authorities. 

Increase predictability 

•• Examine and implement improvements for conveying transit 

system budget information to local governments, such as 

the provision of multi-year budgets aligned to municipal 

calendar years. 

•• Continue to confirm government of B.C. Bus Pass program 

pricing. (An annual pass program for lower income seniors and 

people with a disability). 

Implement new partnerships and revenue opportunities 

•• Revise legislation, policies and procedures to encourage 

profitable commercial use of BC Transit assets and resources for 

reinvestment to further transit service objectives. 

•• Explore opportunities to offset BC Transit costs by leveraging 

our expertise and scope with other organizations (for example, 

our fleet procurement expertise or bulk fuel contracts). 

•• Continue to support local governments to offset costs by 

identifying and creating local transit funding partnerships with 

other agencies. 

•• Explore new revenue opportunities and funding mechanisms in 

conjunction with development of rapid transit lines. 


25

Highlight: Why are predictable funding and revenue 

sources such an issue? 

•• 

Implementing new or expanded transit services is 

a multi-year process: capital planning and vehicle 

manufacturing timelines mean that there is normally 

a one- to two-year gap between approving vehicle 

purchase and delivery. However, provincial funding 

availability for transit is only confirmed on a yearby-year 

basis. This means there is no ability to 

ensure capital expenditures in one year will be 

complemented by operating funding and actual 

implementation in successive years. 

The proportion of BC Transit and local government 

funding in transit systems is formally defined in the 

British Columbia Transit Act. No mechanism in the Act 

allows for BC Transit or a local government to pay 

a higher share of funding. This means that transit 

partners are held in lockstep regardless of their desire 

and ability to pay for improved service. For instance, 

a community may have an approved plan and local 

funding for expanded service, but that expansion will 

not go through if the corresponding provincial share 

of funding is not available. Likewise, service may be 

forced to decrease if funding from one partner or the 

other decreases. 

Over the past decade, local government requests 

to fund expanded transit services have exceeded 

provincial government’s ability to match funding. 

•• 

The funding issue is further complicated by 

the following: 

ÌÌ Provincial fiscal year budgets (April to March) 

are offset from Municipal calendar year budgets 

(January to December). This means that local 

government spending for the year is usually locked 

down before provincial funding availability is 

confirmed. This offset between financial calendars 

also adds another layer of complexity when 

aligning transit budgets among partners. 

ÌÌ Local governments rely primarily on property 

taxes to cover their portion of transit costs not 

funded through passenger fares and advertising 

revenues. Since property taxation rates are 

formally set only once per year, local governments 

have less flexibility to adapt to unforeseen transit 

cost increases or to expand service to meet 

unexpected demand. 

ÌÌ The Victoria Regional Transit Commission offsets a 

portion of its transit costs through a local fuel tax. 

The British Columbia Transit Act includes provision 

for creation of similar commissions with access to 

local fuel taxes in other areas of the province. The 

ability to implement or increase a local fuel tax for 

transit still requires provincial legislation which can 

frustrate timely implementation of a service and 

funding strategy. 

ÌÌ 

Over the past decade, BC Transit has helped a 

number of communities diversify their transit 

funding through new transit partnerships, 

including new funding from Health Authorities, 

Aboriginal governments, post-secondary 

institutions, private and non-profit sponsors, 

and new pass products such as U-PASS (a deeply 

discounted universal bus pass for post-secondary 

students). While this work makes sense in terms of 

overall value to society, the lack of British Columbia 

Transit Act specifics on sharing new revenue 

sources means that there is no direct financial 

incentive for the provincially funded crown 

corporation to develop new revenue sources or 

increase its financial self-reliance. 

•• 

•• 


Priority 1.2 

Renew and revise governance 

structures and responsibilities 

Providing improved transit service is essential for a sustainable 

future. However, it must be provided in a responsive, efficient, and 

effective manner. To improve the overall performance of BC Transit, 

our organizational and transit system governance structures need 

to be re-examined and modified. 

On an organizational level, the Board of BC Transit makes all 

major strategic decisions, including approving contracts and 

expenditures, allocating budgets, establishing transit service areas 

and overseeing BC Transit performance. Board composition is 

legislated through the British Columbia Transit Act and includes four 

elected officials and three members at large who are all appointed 

by the provincial minister responsible for BC Transit. 

Given the scope of the Board’s oversight, it would be advantageous 

to have more flexibility to the Board appointment process. This 

flexibility would ensure that a full complement of financial, legal, 

human resources, and transportation skill sets is available. 

On a transit system level, our lifestyles and communities are 

increasingly regional. To enable seamless transit travel across 

municipal boundaries, we need to help communities develop 

ways to more collaboratively plan, fund, operate, and market 

their systems. These regional processes and decision-making 

methods also need to be flexible enough to grow and shift as 

communities change. 

Finally, there is opportunity to reflect on and clarify roles and 

expectations between all transit partners so that we can use our 

resources as wisely as possible. 

Under this priority (and in conjunction with Priority 1.1), BC Transit 

will work with its partners to review and redefine governance 

structures and responsibilities. Such changes will help enable long 

term, regional scale transit system decision making and clarified 

roles, responsibilities, expectations, and communication. 


Review and redefine governance structures 

•• Revise the structure and appointment process 

of BC Transit Board of Directors to ensure a 

full complement of skill sets is available for 

decision making. 

•• Improve long term, regional decision making. 

•• Establish a regular, defined process of 

assessing and committing to local service 

priorities through the development of multiyear 

service plans. These plans would be 

consistent with local, regional, and BC Transit 

objectives and available funding. 

Clarify roles, responsibilities, and 

expectations 

•• Review and revise transit system contract 

structures to make roles and responsibilities 

clearer, reward performance, and better 

control costs. 

•• Survey local government partners and transit 

management companies at least once per 

year on BC Transit’s provision of services. 

Survey the perceived health of relationships 

and responsiveness among all partners. 

•• 

Provide an opportunity at least once per 

year for transit management companies to 

determine which policies and expectations 

most need clarifying. Provide support to 

the department or division responsible for 

coordinating that effort. 

Improve external communication 

•• Assess ways to increase the local presence and 

availability of BC Transit staff and improve our 

client relations. 

•• In collaboration with local governments 

and transit management companies, review 

and improve how BC Transit communicates 

externally. In particular, improve process and 

policies to communicate major decisions and 

on-going business updates. 

Post policies and procedures online. 

•• 


27

Priority 1.3 

Improve cost control, communication, and 

monitoring processes 

Our collaborative shared services model provides our customers with many benefits, including 

delivering above average ridership at below average cost. It is also complex and requires coordination 

and understanding among many people, departments, organizations, and transit systems. 

It is crucial that we continue to improve how we collect, analyze, and share information in order to 

improve our service. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will work to improve internal and cross-organizational cost control, 

communication, and monitoring processes. The goal of these improvements will be to mitigate cost 

volatility, maximize efficiencies, and increase our performance, safety, and customer satisfaction. 


Mitigate cost volatility 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

Implement policies, procedures, and technologies that manage 

and improve the health and safety of our employees and transit 

system staff, customers, and assets. 

Improve vehicle management to more accurately plan 

expenditures, reduce the volatility of maintenance costs, and 

ensure the long term viability of these assets. 

Create similar longer range maintenance, refurbishment, and 

replacement planning processes for our facilities. 

Where feasible, use the scale of our operations to obtain fixed 

price physical supply contracts with fuel suppliers to reduce the 

volatility of fuel costs due to pricing and currency changes. 

Investigate the possibility of forming fuel purchase partnerships 

with other organizations to reduce fuel costs based on 

significant volume. 

Review our existing insurance program and implement any 

recommended changes to improve cost-effectiveness. 

Maximize efficiencies 

•• Complete and implement the information technology strategic 

plan to prioritize new technology investments and ensure that 

our future information systems are integrated, supported, 

and sustainable. 


•• 

•• 

•• 

Re-evaluate and improve our Requests for 

Proposals (RFP) process for transit management 

company selection to increase the number of 

competitive proposals and improve resulting costs 

and performance. 

Further leverage our scale and scope when 

negotiating costs with service providers and 

suppliers. Adequately resource those aspects of 

our organization that offer significant value to 

the province through the centralized supply of 

services and parts. 

Look at other ways to reduce costs by changing how 

we use and manage assets. For example, reduce costs 

by minimizing the number of different fleet types 

in each system and recalibrating our ratio of spare 

vehicles in each fleet. 

Improve monitoring processes 

•• Pending completion of the information technology 

strategic plan, implement an expanded monitoring 

and management system to improve how we collect, 

analyze, and share information internally 

and externally. 

•• Implement a new province-wide policy and data 

management framework to measure and monitor 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

safety in our transit systems and identify specific 

training needs. 

Increase the specific accountabilities of BC Transit 

management by improving business planning 

processes and monitoring achievement of major 

deliverables and performance indicators. 

Improve the completeness and consistency of the 

information we collect and transit management 

company reporting. This improvement would help 

us monitor transit system performance, particularly 

with respect to customer suggestions and complaints, 

on-time performance, ridership, vehicle maintenance, 

and other key performance indicators. 

Improve on existing external reporting strategies 

by defining a regular process, more accessible 

formats, and a more holistic range of transit system 

performance measures related to the strategic plan 

and business plan outcomes. 

Review current service audit and fleet inspection 

procedures and revise where necessary to reflect new 

contract structures and assignment of responsibilities. 

Improve internal communication and integration 

•• Create a comprehensive corporate communication 

plan that builds awareness among our people, 

departments, and divisions. Implement strategies 

to keep our employees better informed about our 

organization’s activites and accomplishments. 

•• As part of the corporate communications plan, 

evaluate and initiate opportunities to better use 

electronic methods to share information and increase 

the organization’s internal cohesion. 

•• Continue to support our internal, employee-led 

groups that encourage employee involvement, 

positive change in our workplace, and learning about 

each others’ roles. 


29

Objective 2 

Support and shape livable 

communities 

We need to encourage transit-supportive community planning 

and development that will make it easier to get around by 

walking, cycling and using transit. 

To create places that are healthier, more easily served by 

transit, and less dependent on automobiles and fossil fuels, all 

communities—from smaller, more rural towns to larger urban 

centres—will need to improve land use development and 

transportation planning choices. 

Since 1996, the British Columbia Transit Act has included reference 

to supporting Regional Growth Strategies and Official Community 

Plans. However, in many cases, BC Transit is being asked as an 

afterthought to serve new automobile-focussed housing and 

business developments that will provide for comparatively few 

passengers for a comparatively high cost per trip. 

This lack of integration between land use and a full spectrum 

of transportation options results in poor value for public dollars 

spent. It also misses the tremendous responsibility we have to 

build neighbourhoods that will be livable and sustainable over 

the long term. 

The priorities under this objective focus on working with our 

partner local governments to encourage and support local land 

use and transportation planning decisions that promote walking, 

cycling and using transit.

Priority 2.1 

Increase integration with other 

types of sustainable travel 

In general, neighbourhoods that are more walkable and focussed 

on the needs of pedestrians and cyclists tend to be more easily 

and productively served by transit. This is especially the case if 

the needs of future bus or rail service have also been considered 

as part of planning for the area. A range of options for making 

communities more walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented can be 

tailored to fit the rural or urban nature of each town. 

In addition to contributing to healthier communities, more 

effectively integrating transit with walking, cycling, and other 

types of regional travel helps build ridership by delivering the 

kind of transportation choice that reduces auto-dependency and 

associated road investments. People can and will use an array 

of transportation options if those choices are available, safe, 

convenient, and reliable. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will work to increase our integration 

with other types of sustainable travel to enhance transportation 

options and make it easier for pedestrians, cyclists, and regional 

travelers to link to our services. 

By increasing transit’s integration 

with walking and cycling, we can 

enhance transportation choice and 

develop healthier communities. 


Enhance and develop transportation choice 

•• Increase BC Transit’s investment in facilities 

(transit exchanges, stations, Park & Rides, etc.) 

that connect with other types of travel. 

•• Ensure that our performance measures 

focus on reducing single-occupant vehicle 

use, and view usage changes in other green 

transportation types as complementary, 

not competitive. 

•• Cultivate new relationships with organizations 

that promote sustainable transportation and 

efficient land use, particularly those that are 

provincial in scale and which promote a range 

of transportation options. 

•• As part of building new relationships, 

pursue opportunities to build knowledge 

and awareness on how to move safely 

around transit vehicles, such as safe passing 

procedures between cyclists and buses. 

•• Where feasible, encourage transit staff to 

use greener types of travel by implementing 

transportation demand management policies 

and incentives, and by continuing to include 

showers, lockers, and bicycle parking areas in 

plans for new transit operations centres. 

Increase integration with walking and cycling 

•• Continue to provide bike racks for all 

new buses. 

•• Emphasize our cycling connections at regional 

transit hubs by implementing bike facility 

standards and increasing investment in secure 

bicycle parking and connections to bikeways 

and multi-use paths. 

•• Leverage transit facility investments—such 

as those related to rapid transit stations and 

rights of way—to improve pedestrian and 

cycling facilities. 

•• Develop local alliances to promote greener 

types of travel. 

Increase integration with regional travel 

•• As part of the Master Plan process, identify 

and secure land for Park & Rides and 

exchanges and evaluate opportunities to link 

them to other regional modes of travel. 

•• Where viable, improve connecting transit 

facilities and services with ferry, rail, and 

airplane travel. 

•• Continue to evaluate and improve transit 

vehicles used for regional services, particularly 

with respect to passenger comfort, storage for 

parcels and luggage, and vehicle durability. 


31

Priority 2.2 

Influence land use 

development patterns 

Community land use and development 

patterns have a direct link to the efficiency 

and effectiveness of transportation systems 

A community that sprawls its residents across 

a large area and does not make it a priority to 

locate services and amenities within walking 

distance of people’s homes will be a community 

that is dependent on the use of private 

automobiles. These communities require more 

time and resources to serve with transit trips than 

a more compact, better connected community. 

A less compact, more automobile-dependent 

land use pattern will also result in more 

congestion, pollution, and energy use as well 

as fewer trips by walking and cycling. 

The Master Plan Process 

Similarly, locating a large business park, hospital, 

or other major destination on the outskirts of 

town may make sense in terms of initial land 

costs and proximity to existing highways, but 

these destinations will be difficult to serve 

by means other than car. These types of 

developments will also require substantial public 

investment to serve with transit and to build safe 

walking and cycling connections. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will work with 

partners to influence land use development 

patterns that encourage walking and cycling, 

and increase the effectiveness and efficiency 

of public transportation. 

The transit Master Plan process envisions what a community’s public transportation network should 

look like 25 years from now, and describes what priorities, infrastructure, and investment are needed 

to get there. 

The Master Plan includes an analysis of the existing system and its evolution, an evaluation of the 

Regional Growth Strategy and Official Community Plans, and a look at future trends. It creates a 

transit network based on layers of different types of service and seeks to create a more formal link 

between efficient land use and the level of transit investment. 


Improve processes to influence effective land use 

•• Develop Master Plans for all regions outlining transit service 

development, facilities, and infrastructure linked to Regional 

Growth Strategies, Official Community Plans, and local Climate 

Action strategies. Communicate Master Plan timelines to 

local governments. 

•• Develop and communicate a Multiple Accounts Evaluation 

process that rewards transit-supportive community design with 

transit investment. This will be achieved by more formally taking 

into account local land use development policies and patterns 

when prioritizing service improvements. 

•• Work with local governments to review and coordinate 

transit services with ongoing regionally significant public 

and private development. 

•• Create strategic alliances with other agencies that promote and 

benefit from more efficient land development patterns. 

•• Continue to increase our local presence and participation in land 

use planning and decision making. 

Use transit investment to enhance transit-supportive 

development 

•• As part of the Master Plan process and wherever possible, 

identify and locate transit stations and exchanges at existing 

people places that are walkable and integrated with nearby 

services and amenities. 

•• Explore opportunities to foster development and amenities at 

stops, stations, and exchanges to help encourage them to be 

vibrant and safe places. 


Priority 2.3 

Identify and establish 

priority corridors for transit 

To attract and keep customers, transit needs 

to be reliable and convenient. Congestion on 

roadways and at intersections has a substantial 

impact on transit. If not controlled or mitigated, 

congestion will cause transit vehicles to run late 

and passenger travel times will become longer 

and less convenient. 

Designating priority corridors for transit is 

essential to protect transit from congestion and 

make public transportation more attractive. 

In smaller towns, this designation could mean 

giving buses priority at an otherwise timeconsuming 

downtown left turn. In urban centres, 

designation might mean creating signal priority 

along a roadway or protecting land to create a 

separate right-of-way for bus or rail service. 

The designation of transit priority corridors can 

also help focus improvements to stops or stations 

and assist the creation of transit-supportive land 

use zoning, development criteria, and 

funding mechanisms. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will work with local 

government partners to identify and establish 

priority corridors for transit to make travel more 

attractive and reliable, and reduce the impact 

of congestion. 


Identify and establish priority corridors for transit 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

As part of Master Plan process, work with local agencies 

to review and coordinate transit service and regional 

transportation plans and to designate transit priority corridors. 

Acquire and protect right-of-way on designated corridors for 

future transit facilities. 

Use transit system projects to develop and improve a suite 

of techniques that will make transit travel faster; ensure the 

techniques can be applied in a range of community sizes and 

applications, such as transit signal priority, queue jump lanes, 

signal timing plan revisions and routing changes. 

Increase support for transit focussed development through 

advocacy and education. 


33

Objective 3 

Change the perception of transit 

To build public support for our services and attract new customers, we will increase 

our advocacy and target transit messaging in new ways. 

Over the past 60 years, society’s love affair with private automobiles has substantially 

shaped our communities. Cars have become such an ingrained part of our lifestyle that 

many people cannot imagine what their lives would be like without one. They also find 

it hard to picture what their neighbourhoods would look like if streets were no longer 

dominated by cars. 

To build public support for the funding, land use patterns, and corridors that encourage 

transit, walking and cycling, we need to first build a common public understanding of 

what communities would look and feel like if people could easily get around by means 

other than private automobiles. By targeting and increasing advocacy and outreach 

programs, we can build the conditions for success and increase public awareness about 

the benefits of transit and other greener transportation modes. 

We will also change how we market transit to our customers. By using marketing 

techniques that go beyond providing information, we can help position transit as part 

of a family of healthy, socially responsible transportation choices and give people more 

incentives and tools to change their behaviour. 

The following priorities seek to gain customers and community support by improving 

how we market and advocate for transit.

Priority 3.1 

Implement marketing strategies 

Traditional advertising is used to sell products by creating a 

preference for one brand over another. Marketing transit is a 

much more complex task than traditional advertising because 

it is not just about selling a product but rather about changing 

perceptions and behaviours. This kind of marketing involves more 

than providing information since few people change a lifetime of 

transportation habits just because they are better informed. 

By developing transit campaigns using behaviour change-focussed 

marketing tools and strategies, BC Transit can encourage people to 

become customers. A marketing campaign of this type might help 

users make a commitment to trying transit, offer reminders and 

incentives to do so, and then help them spread the habit of taking 

transit to others. 

Shifting the marketing of our services also means reframing how 

we talk and think about them so that we capitalize on our strength 

as progressive, community-minded transportation. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will implement new marketing 

strategies to change perceptions and behaviours, attract new 

customers, and increase ridership by promoting transit as part of 

a healthy, socially responsible lifestyle. 


Increase our knowledge about our existing 

and future customers 

•• Evaluate and revise existing data sources, such 

as electronic farebox data and our existing 

monthly telephone survey, to provide better 

information. This information will help us 

develop and gauge the effectiveness of 

marketing campaigns. 

•• Undertake research of our systems to 

determine what keeps people from trying 

transit or using it more often. 

Implement new marketing strategies 

•• Design, pilot, and implement marketing 

strategies focussed on changing 

transportation behaviours. Develop this 

marketing on successive campaigns that 

connect with the community, grow ridership, 

and enhance the position of transit as part of 

a healthy, socially responsible lifestyle. 

•• Implement a marketing innovation program 

that will enable communities to propose 

and implement new marketing or outreach 

campaigns and evaluate and share 

their results. 

•• Consider implementing programs that engage 

existing customers to act as ambassadors to 

attract and orient new customers. 

•• 

Recognize that Master Plan processes 

discussed in Priority 2.0 and public 

involvement strategies discussed in Priority 4.2 

are also tremendous opportunities to market 

transit as well as advocate and educate. 

Improve marketing tools 

•• As part of re-examining roles and 

responsibilities under Priority 1.2, evaluate 

how marketing responsibilities are shared 

between BC Transit and local transit partners. 

Determine how BC Transit can best support 

communities that have more capacity and 

desire to undertake local marketing and 

business development of transit systems. 

•• More effectively target and share marketing 

resources between transit systems by 

implementing a centralized framework 

for cataloging, evaluating, and improving 

marketing programs. 

•• Create policies and procedures to improve 

access to transit staff and vehicles for 

marketing campaigns. 


35

Priority 3.2 

Increase our advocacy and 

education practices 

To build support for the land use patterns and investment that are 

critical to transit’s long term success, we need to build a shared 

vision for the future internally and with external staff and decision 

makers who will help realize that future. 

This means improving how we share information on best practices 

and being more vocal about transit’s requirements. It also means 

developing new programs and practices to teach people about 

our role and the benefits transit provides, and how they can get 

on board. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will increase advocacy and 

education practices to build acceptance and support for our 

business, resource needs, and land use and transportation 

corridor requirements. 


Increase our advocacy 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

Develop and promote our advocacy and 

education resources, particularly with 

respect to general transit background 

information, transit supportive land use best 

practices, infrastructure standards, and the 

benefits of transit and other greener 

transportation modes. 

Create and distribute comprehensive transit 

background materials to newly elected 

officials after each local, provincial, and 

federal election. 

Identify and implement a strategy to ensure 

that provincial ministries are aware of who 

we are and what we do. Ensure that ministries 

promote BC Transit when the issue of 

transportation comes up within their business. 

Work with partners to create guidelines for 

local advocacy. Develop and share a suite 

of presentation templates that can be used 

to address our most common audiences, 

such as Chambers of Commerce, business 

associations, Parent Advisory Councils, and 

residents of seniors’ facilities. 

Continue to participate in the Union of British 

Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) annual 

conference and look for other opportunities to 

•• 

build our presence with UBCM and its regional 

local government management associations. 

Build alliances with other organizations 

advocating for sustainable transportation 

and walkable, transit-supportive community 

development. 

Develop our education practices and tools 

•• Develop the information we provide to the 

public on the range of accessible services we 

offer and evaluate opportunities to expand 

our travel training programs for seniors and 

people with a disability. 

•• Revamp and relaunch our elementary school 

and middle school outreach programs 

and create processes to ensure their 

ongoing development, including assessing 

opportunities to work with educators to 

develop an expanded curriculum or online 

components. 

•• Create a suite of post-secondary marketing 

and education materials that can be easily 

adopted by on-campus student groups 

and which promote greener transportation, 

U-PASS benefits, a sense of ownership, and 

standards of behaviour. 


Objective 4 

Deliver operational excellence 

The core of our business is developing and delivering 

safe, reliable, and easy-to-use transportation services that 

continuously improve through active engagement with our 

customers, employees, and partners. 

Better marketing and advocacy for transit will be of little use if 

the product we deliver is not consistently excellent. The service 

we provide must also adapt and improve to meet the needs 

of our customers, especially in the midst of continuing social, 

technological, and community development change. 

The priorities under this objective recognize that delivering safe, 

reliable, easy-to-use transportation is at the core of our business. 

One of the most important ways we can improve our services is 

by listening to and engaging the people who use and help deliver 

them. 


37

Priority 4.1 

Deliver excellent service 

Over the past 30 years—and in particular during the significant 

improvements made to commuter services over the past 15 

years—some of BC Transit’s most successful customer markets 

have become university and college students, high school 

students, adult commuters to central business districts, and 

customers who do not use other types of transportation. 

Attracting other customer markets and doubling transit ridership 

by 2020 means enhancing the convenience and simplicity of 

our services. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will focus on delivering excellent 

service by creating transit systems—including routes, schedules, 

fares, vehicles, information systems, and infrastructure—that 

are safe, clean, reliable, simple to use and access, and effective in 

attracting customers. 


Ensure the safety of our employees and 

customers 

•• Focus on the continuous professional 

development of our transit operators 

by further developing our Motor Carrier 

Passenger Council of Canada accredited 

driver training curriculum and modules. 

Deliver training, assessments, and expertise 

in conventional transit, paratransit, and 

handyDART systems throughout the province. 

•• Identify emerging situations in our transit 

systems through improved monitoring of 

incident data and transit staff feedback. 

Adapt the content of our training modules in 

response to these situations. 

•• Improve the safety and security of our 

employees and customers on board vehicles 

and at transit stops, stations, exchanges, and 

Park & Rides. 

•• Further build cooperative relationships with 

community police, RCMP, and citizen groups 

to address and deter violence on our transit 

systems, and to foster a restorative justice 

approach to asset damage. 

•• Improve the safety of our stops, stations 

and exchanges through the location and 

design considerations listed in Priority 2.2, 

and continue to include and build on crime 

prevention through environmental design 

techniques as part of new infrastructure. 

•• 

In the advocacy and education work that we 

perform, recognize that transit trips do not 

start and end at stops or stations: BC Transit 

will encourage local government safety 

improvements to sidewalks, bikeways, and 

road crossings. 

Improve and simplify routes, schedules, and 

availability 

•• Through the Master Plan process and 

ongoing service plans, continue to improve 

conventional transit, paratransit, and 

handyDART system frequency and availability, 

days and hours of operation, and service area 

coverage. 

•• Use the Master Plan to tailor services to meet 

customer needs. More easily communicate 

transit system features by creating layers 

of transit service ranging from rapid transit 

and frequent transit networks to local and 

neighbourhood shuttle routes. 

•• Develop transit service guidelines for 

measuring, monitoring, and prioritizing transit 

resource allocations. 

•• Complete and implement a new provincewide 

transit system data management 

program to improve how we collect, share, 

and make decisions from transit system data, 

including ridership, on-time performance, and 

stop/station inventories. 


Simplify transit information and deliver it where 

people need it 

•• Continuously improve our public information services 

to give customers the information they need, when 

and where they need it, in the format they want. 

Tailor information to the needs of specific groups 

of customers. Evaluate how we can further simplify 

province-wide access to transit information online 

and by telephone. 

•• Improve and support the availability and accessibility 

of schedule information at major stops and stations, 

for example, through electronic signage and printed 

schedule displays. 

Make fare payments more convenient 

•• Invest in new fare collection and transit pass 

technologies to make transit more convenient 

and accessible. 

•• Work with our local partners to develop availability, 

materials, and marketing campaigns for long term 

passes, such as U-PASS for post-secondary students, 

ProPASS for employers, YouthPASS, and others. 

•• Work with handyDART transit management 

companies and customers to evaluate and further 

develop fare policies and products to meet specific 

customer needs. 

Improve the accessibility, cleanliness, comfort, and 

availability of vehicles 

•• Implement recommendations and new 

accessibility service standards and guidelines 

from an independent evaluation of BC Transit’s 

accessible services. 

•• Evaluate and implement new accessible technologies, 

such as a low-floor community shuttle and on board 

audio and visual stop enunciators. 

•• Further improve the comfort and amenities of 

vehicles, for example, improved seating design 

and layout, luggage and parcel storage on regional 

services, and other on board features. 

•• Create a process to formally establish cleanliness 

expectations and monitor outcomes, and reflect 

these requirements in operating contracts. 

•• Support the implementation of policies and 

technologies that enable operations and 

maintenance staff to monitor vehicle availability to 

ensure that service needs are met. 

•• Better equip local maintenance staff to maintain 

reliable fleets and ensure that components critical 

to keeping vehicles on the road are continuously 

available in transit systems. 

•• Evaluate the costs and benefits of external 

advertising on buses compared to the recognition 

and marketing value of a more unified look. 

Improve the accessibility, cleanliness, and comfort of 

stops, stations, and exchanges 

•• Take a larger ownership and financial stake in the 

design, construction, and maintenance of stops, 

stations, and associated amenities. 

•• Define and ensure compliance with accessibility and 

signage standards at stops, stations, and exchanges. 

•• Evaluate new technologies and techniques to 

enhance the accessibility of stops and stations. 


39

Priority 4.2 

Involve everyone, 

especially our experts 

Our customers and front line transit staff see how transit could be 

improved on a daily basis and therefore represent some of our best 

expert resources. In order for our business to be responsive and 

improve, we must listen to them. 

Listening to customers and employees makes good business 

sense. The impact of the Internet’s world of instant engagement 

and endless customization creates a public expectation that 

organizations will provide opportunities to comment and 

participate. The B.C. Auditor General has recently recognized the 

trend toward increased public engagement with the 2008 release 

of a public participation principles and best practices guide for B.C. 

In addition to being an expected aspect of organizations, well 

designed and genuine public involvement practices can help 

create better transit by collecting a wider range of information 

than quantitative data alone. These practices can also provide 

decision makers the confidence to support projects in the face 

of opposition. In workplaces and transit systems, well-executed 

involvement strategies also help build a sense of ownership, 

improved morale, and a culture of innovation. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will provide multiple and regular 

opportunities for customers, transit staff, and partners to 

participate in transit system development and decision making 

to improve service and build advocacy, investment, and a sense 

of ownership. 


Enhance two-way communication with 

customers, partners, and transit system staff 

•• Review and improve our processes for 

recording, following up, and acting on 

suggestions, complaints, and commendations. 

•• Conduct at least two phases of customer, 

staff, and stakeholder participation using a 

variety of methods as part of each Master 

Plan process. 

•• Improve integration and communication 

processes for transit system changes. Create 

a structured process for customers, partners, 

and transit staff to suggest and prioritize 

service improvements. 

•• Implement the local government and transit 

management company feedback processes 

listed under Priority 1.2. 

Increase opportunities for employee input 

•• Hold interactive open houses with our 

employees as part of annual business 

plan development. 

•• 

•• 

Initiate other strategies to regularly survey 

employees on their experience in the 

workplace and gather and report back on 

their ideas for improvement. 

Continue to support the development of 

multi-disciplinary project teams. 

Improve our tools and techniques 

•• Develop internal resources and tools to 

engage customers, transit staff, and partners 

in decision making and create ways to 

centralize and share best practices, templates, 

and materials internally and between 

transit systems. 

•• Make our open houses and workshops more 

useful and engaging by holding them where 

our customers and stakeholders already are 

(for instance, on-site at major exchanges) and 

by making them more interactive. 

•• Implement better online public 

involvement and feedback resources, 

such as customer panels. 


Objective 5 

Strengthen our people 

and partnerships 

Our success depends on creating an adaptable, socially 

responsible organization that lives its values, develops its 

existing employees and partnerships, and attracts new people 

and opportunities. 

Our people, partnerships, and values are the most important pillars on 

which BC Transit is built. Strengthening this foundation, and preparing 

for the many opportunities and challenges that the coming years 

may bring, means actively working to improve how we attract and 

develop with our employees and partners. It also means encouraging 

a culture of innovation and accountability, and ensuring that we 

comprehensively consider and monitor our environmental, social, and 

economic impacts. 

The priorities under this objective acknowledge that our success 

depends on cultivating exceptional people and partnerships and 

on aligning our decision making with our values. 


41

Priority 5.1 

Become an adaptable 

workplace of choice 

Whether maintaining vehicles, delivering service, or planning for 

future transportation networks, public transit is a people-intensive 

business that requires talented employees working together to 

achieve BC Transit’s objectives. At the same time as demand for 

transit services is increasing, BC Transit must manage the aging 

of our workforce, which creates further challenges in employee 

recruitment and retention. 

In order to continue to attract and retain great people, BC Transit 

will continually adapt its recruitment, training, and development 

and retention strategies. We must also create the practices to help 

encourage the innovative thinking and teamwork that will enable 

us to successfully navigate future challenges and opportunities. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will continue to be an adaptable 

workplace of choice that offers competitive compensation, 

flexibility, and opportunity and that rewards problem solving, 

innovation, and performance. 


Attract and retain great people 

•• Provide a comprehensive and competitive 

compensation and benefit package within 

provincial government guidelines to make 

BC Transit an employer of choice. 

•• Promote employee health and well-being 

through corporate business practices, benefit 

plans, and activity and recreational programs. 

•• Refine our processes and procedures for 

welcoming new employees, celebrating the 

contributions of existing employees, and 

maintaining relationships with employees who 

leave the organization. 

•• Attract and develop future employees by 

continuing to support co‐op programs and 

encouraging secondary and post‐secondary 

students to work on transit-related projects. 

Support and evolve our employee referral 

program, which rewards BC Transit employees 

who refer new people to our workplace. 

•• Increase use of social media to promote our 

organization, expand our contacts, and attract 

new people. 

Offer flexibility and opportunity 

•• Work with our unions and our employees to 

identify opportunities to balance work lives 

with personal lives. 

•• Together with our unions and employees, 

explore ways to encourage professional 

growth and development opportunities. 

•• 

Expand our training and development 

program to provide for group training 

initiatives, career-path support, creation 

of individual development plans and 

incorporation of internal and external 

mentoring programs. 

Promote and reward problem solving, 

innovation, and performance 

•• Implement new performance goals and 

measures aligned to the corporate strategic 

plan and business plans ensuring all 

employees understand how they impact 

and contribute to the overall success of 

the organization. 

•• Remain committed to celebrating success 

and supporting our employee appreciation 

program, including recognition and awards for 

leadership, innovation, teamwork, and length 

of service. 

•• Help our leaders and employees seize 

every opportunity to recognize and reward 

excellence in performance, success and 

innovation throughout the organization. 


Priority 5.2 

Enhance existing partnerships and 

develop new ones 

Collaborative partnerships are at the heart of BC Transit’s 

shared services model. This is true of the over 81 transit systems 

we operate that are partnerships between BC Transit, local 

governments, and transit management companies. It is also true 

of the many partnerships that we have formed with businesses, 

health providers, educational institutions, and non-profit agencies 

to support our organization’s operations, effectiveness, and values. 

In the same way that we need to attract and develop our 

employees, it is also crucial that we continue to cultivate 

innovative partnerships. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will enhance existing partnerships 

and attract new ones in order to promote our vision and values, 

foster innovation and best practices, and increase our efficiency 

and effectiveness. 


Enhance our existing partnerships 

•• 

•• 

•• 

•• 

Continue to bring together partner local 

governments, transit management companies, 

and BC Transit staff to share best practices and 

learn from one another. 

Supplement the annual workshop with 

webinars on relevant topics, particularly 

periodic operations roundtables and 

orientations for new transit contacts. 

Promote and share our human resources 

strengths with our transit management 

companies, particularly in the areas of 

employee recruitment and retention. 

Implement province-wide training programs— 

particularly focussing on the areas of safety 

and training for transit operators and 

maintenance staff—that are modular and can 

be tailored to the needs of specific locations. 

Develop new partnerships 

•• Connect and cultivate long term strategic 

partnerships with suppliers to test new 

products and ensure that our specific needs 

are met. 

•• Build partnerships with educational 

institutions, industry, and other organizations 

to increase our training and development 

opportunities, cross-pollinate ideas, and 

promote our organization. 

•• Build on our expertise and services to 

administer and disperse province‐wide 

programs on the behalf of other government 

entities and organizations. 

•• Identify and pursue opportunities to create 

strategic partnerships with other organizations 

to pool purchasing and attain better pricing 

for the products and services we need. 


43

Priority 5.3 

Increase our environmental, social, 

and economic accountability 

Whether prioritizing transit investment among communities or 

considering the full lifecycle impacts of fleet and facility choices, 

our decisions often require a conscious and balanced consideration 

of environmental, social, and financial impacts. 

As a public transportation provider, we will recognize—and be 

proud of and promote—the fact that many of our biggest and 

most positive community impacts are the hardest to quantify in a 

non-financial way. 

In addition to measuring and being accountable for the impacts 

we make, we will ensure that our organization is true to its values 

and is actively working to be a part of the sustainable future it 

hopes to promote. 

Under this priority, BC Transit will increase its environmental, 

social, and economic accountability by implementing programs 

and procedures that align our behaviour with our values, ensure 

comprehensive decision-making, and reduce our negative impacts 

and risks. 


Align our behaviour with our values 

•• Implement this strategic plan and its 

underlying framework of short term capital 

plans, multi‐year business plans, service plans, 

and annual reports. 

•• Improve accountabilities and key performance 

indicators to more explicitly measure 

environmental, economic, and social impacts. 

•• Ensure that all reports and plans produced at 

BC Transit align with this strategic plan. 

Ensure comprehensive decision making 

•• Review and revise all business case templates 

and procurement evaluations to ensure that 

they include evaluation of environmental and 

social impacts. 

Reduce environmental impacts and risks 

•• Continue to actively support the province’s 

Climate Action Plan, including measuring 

and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and 

progress in working towards carbon neutrality 

as specified in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction 

Targets Act. 

•• Continue to test and implement vehicles with 

alternative propulsion systems that are less 

reliant on fossil fuels. 

•• Further moderate fossil fuel use and emissions 

on existing vehicles, for example, through 

•• 

•• 

•• 

installation of improved performance vehicle 

parts and the relaunch of the Smart Driver 

program to teach energy conserving 

driving techniques. 

Identify opportunities to further moderate the 

energy and resource use and environmental 

impacts of our facilities. 

Establish and continually improve 

a comprehensive environmental 

management system. 

Support transit management company 

participation in local emergency preparedness 

groups. On a provincial level, ensure the 

creation and provision of emergency 

preparedness plans. 

Maintain social accountability 

•• Maintain the affordability of transit 

through cost control measures and 

program development. 

•• Maintain and enhance partnerships focussed 

on improving mobility and accessibility. 

•• Recognize the unique role transit systems and 

transit staff have in building social networks 

that provide inclusion, connection, and 

support for all. 


6 

Moving forward 

REVIEW AND RENEWAL 

The strategic plan is not a static document. In concert with the 

business plan process this plan will be reviewed annually to address 

emerging trends and performance, and determine if immediate 

changes are required to the presented objectives, priorities, and 

major actions. Furthermore, a comprehensive strategic plan 

consultation, review, and update will be undertaken every five years. 

Public Involvement 

As part of our continued commitment to public involvement in our 

strategic plan process, this plan will be provided to our employees, 

partner local governments, transit management companies, and 

major stakeholders. The plan, plus summaries and highlights, will 

also be available online to our customers and the general public. 

Through engagement with customers, employees, and partners, 

we will seek comments and feedback with regard to what we have 

captured well, what is missing, and what needs changing. 

Based on this feedback we will continue to develop and refine the 

detailed action items and measurements of success for each of the 

priorities presented in the plan. 

IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING 

A strategic plan is only as valuable as the thought, learning, and 

action that it provokes and guides. 

This corporate strategic plan is intended to serve as the overarching 

framework for long term master plans, capital plans, multi-year 

business plans, and annual service plans and budgets to follow, as 

illustrated below. 

Strategic Plan 

Master Plans 

Capital Plans 

Corporate Service 

Plans & Business Plans 

Annual Service 

Plans & Budgets 


45

7 

Conclusion 

Substantially increasing the viability and usage 

of public transportation in B.C. requires that 

BC Transit reinvent itself as an organization and 

take a more active and accountable role in 

securing the conditions for success. 

If we do not take action, the results of 

complacency are clear. Numerous other North 

American transit systems now find themselves in 

a position where, despite growing ridership and 

sense of public urgency to address energy and 

climate change issues, they are facing service 

cuts due to insufficient funding and unsustainable 

revenue sources. 

This plan presents a blueprint to renew our 

organization at every level, from the vision, mission 

and values at our core, to the revenue, governance, 

and land use structures that shape us, to the 

services we deliver and market, and the people and 

partners who make them possible. 

The next step will be to work with our Provincial 

shareholder, customers, employees, partners, 

and stakeholders to translate this blueprint into 

increasing our self-reliance and resilience over the 

long term and continuously increasing value to the 

public we serve. 

This plan establishes BC Transit’s vision to lead 

the development of integrated transportation 

networks that will shift the balance to greener 

travel and a healthier province. It declares the 

organization’s ongoing commitment to helping 

connect people and communities to a more 

sustainable future. 


Map of BC Transit Systems 

Prince Rupert 

Hazletons’ Regional 

Fort St. John 

Port Edward 

Te rrace Regional 

Smithers & District 

Dawson Creek 

Skeena Regional 

Kitimat 

Prince George 

Quesnel 

Bella Coola 

Williams Lake 

Mt.Waddington 

Clearwater & Area 

100 Mile House 

Kicking Horse Country 

Ashcroft-Cache Creek-Clinton 

Revelstoke 

Campbell River 

Comox Valley 

Powell River 

Whistler 

Pemberton Valley 

Lillooet-Lytton 

Kamloops 

Shuswap Regional 

North Okanagan 

Port Alberni 

Alberni-Clayoquot 

Sunshine Coast 

Nanaimo Regional 

Cowichan 

Valley 

Victoria 

Regional 

Squamish 

Agassiz-Harrison 

Central Fraser 

Valley 

Salt Spring 

Island 

Chilliwack 

Merritt 

Ve rnon Regional 

Kelowna Regional 

Princeton 

Summerland 

Osoyoos 

Nakusp 

Kaslo 

Okanagan - 

Similkameen 

Nelson-Slocan Valley 

Penticton Kootenay 

Lake West 

Nelson 

Boundary 

Castlegar 

Regional 

Kootenay 

Boundary 

Columbia Valley 

Kimberley 

Elk Valley 

Cranbrook 

Creston Valley

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

This plan was prepared by the employees and Board of BC Transit 

in collaboration and consultation with the passengers, residents, 

employees, and elected officials of communities, local governments, 

and operating companies from across B.C. 

Our sincere thanks to all who took the time to provide us with their 

thoughts on what the future could (or should) look like and on how 

our organization should change to meet it. 

CONTACT US 

For further information on this strategic plan or to make a 

comment on it, please contact BC Transit’s Business Development 

team at strategicplan@bctransit.com or 250-995-5632 or visit 

www.bctransit.com/2030. 

For general information on BC Transit and our transit systems, 

please visit www.bctransit.com or call 250-385-2551.

BC Transit 

PO Box 610, 520 Gorge Road East 

Victoria, British Columbia 

V8W 2P3 

Phone: 250.385.2551 

Fax: 250.995.5639 

www.bctransit.com

BC TRANSIT'S STRATEGIC PLAN 2030

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