New bus service rolled out Monday in Okanagan Falls to the delight of riders like Robert McLeod, who will no longer have to rely on friends to help him get around.
McLeod, who doesn’t drive, was picked up according to schedule at 11:38 a.m. at a stop outside Peach Cliff Estates, where he lives, and made the short trip to work at the local Legion.
The new service, which runs Monday to Friday, offers five daily round trips between Okanagan Falls and Penticton, plus five daily loops around Okanagan Falls.
“I’ve already worked out how to get to Penticton to go to the dentist and things like that,” said McLeod, who’s content with the limited schedule for now.
“We’d like more (trips), obviously, but to begin with that’s pretty good,” he said.
Travelling alongside McLeod were Diane Duncan and Gary Kennedy, long-time Okanagan Falls residents who both drive but hopped on the bus anyway just to check out the new route.
“If I wanted to go meet all the guys in town and have a few beers, I would probably take the bus and take the bus back,” said Kennedy.
Duncan, his wife, noted her mother-in-law lives in Penticton and will be particularly well-served by the new route.
“She doesn’t drive, so she can come out and visit anytime she wants,” said Duncan.
Also on the bus was Tom Siddon, the area’s director on the board of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.
He said the cost of the service is split between the RDOS and B.C. Transit, with the local share about $70,000. That will cost the average homeowner along the route an extra $40 per year on their property taxes.
Siddon acknowledged some residents along the route don’t want to pay for something they won’t use, but noted just 13 of a possible 3,500 people registered their opposition during last summer’s alternate approval process. He’s hoping the new service gains more acceptance once people see buses on the road.
“Even though a lot of people say, ‘I wouldn’t ride it,’ within five, 10 years they might for a number of reasons, aging being one of them,” he said.
A one-way trip between along Eastside Road between Penticton and Okanagan Falls takes 25 minutes without a stop in Heritage Hills and as little as 33 minutes when the bus does pull into the community.
The loop through Okanagan Falls, which is considered a separate route, takes between 11 and 14 minutes, depending on the number of stops.
People can travels for free until Feb. 6, after which trips will cost $2 each way for adults and $1.75 for seniors and students. Once at the route’s end at Cherry Lane Shopping Centre in Penticton, riders can then transfer to the city bus system.
The new route is served by a 20-seat bus with bike rack, but Siddon expects it to soon be replaced by a 28-seater with a wheelchair ramp and bike rack.