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West Shore park and ride options still in early phases

BC Transit still in concept phases of three park and ride locations
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(Black Press file photo)

Park and ride options on the West Shore have been narrowed down to three locations, but residents may have to wait a while before they are actually built.

As part of the Island Highway Transit Priority Project, BC Transit, along with consultant group SNC-Lavalin Inc., decided three favourable spots for park and ride options would be on Six Mile Road at the Colwood interchange, close to the Langford exchange at Station Avenue and Veterans Memorial Parkway, and the Luxton Fairgrounds.

Lyndsay Taylor, a senior planner with BC Transit, said the three locations were chosen for their proximity to a frequent transit network.

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“It’s easy access for people to drive and park their cars and hop on a bus from there,” Taylor said.

A report submitted to BC Transit by SNC-Lavalin Inc. identifies 12 possible park and ride options on the West Shore. The consultant group ranked each option by looking at park and ride capacity, connectivity to bus routes, walking distance to bus routes, the nature of the park and ride sites, impact on neighbourhood land-use and looking at the locations in a regional context.

The 12 options were also split up into seven near term locations and five long term locations.

According to the consultant group’s criteria, the Station Avenue near Veterans Memorial Parkway location was ranked first. The Colwood Interchange location was ranked third, preceded by a proposed park and ride area at Goldstream Avenue and Peatt Road.

Luxton Fairgrounds was ranked as the best option for a long term park and ride facility.

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The Station Avenue location would hold about 161 park and ride spots while the Colwood Interchange location would have 152 and Luxton Fairgrounds would have 545.

But BC Transit is still in very early phases when it comes to planning for these park and ride locations, Taylor said.

“We’re still at the concept level,” Taylor said. “Once we have more detailed designs and a budget, it will be something to look at in the future.”

The other nine options are something BC Transit will keep in mind for the future as well, Taylor said.

“We’re moving forward with these three in terms of creating concepts and geometric designs of them,” Taylor said. “But we’ve identified in the long term, say in the next 10 years, we’ll need about 500 more spots than we have today.”

For now, BC Transit is focusing on a different part of the Island Highway Transit Priority Project which includes dedicated bus lanes, queue-jump lanes and traffic signal priority for buses on Island Highway.

Taylor said BC Transit will continue to work with West Shore municipalities to advance plans for park and ride possibilities in the future.

shalu.mehta@goldstreamgazette.com


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