Starting Sept. 8, BC Transit buses on the Sunshine Coast will be returning to a weekday and weekend schedule, but service levels will still be less than what they were before the pandemic.
The change, announced in a BC Transit email alert on Aug. 26, is meant to “better match BC Ferries schedules and changing ridership demands.”
Since April, buses have been running at reduced levels, using a Saturday schedule seven days a week – a move intended to allow for physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic while also dealing with flagging ridership. As of July, the service offered was about 80 per cent of pre-pandemic normal.
In July, Sunshine Coast Regional District directors debated whether to return to normal service starting in September to build ridership back up and potentially provide more revenue, since the transit budget has been operating at a deficit because of COVID-19.
Directors decided to keep service levels at 80 per cent with the view to gradually expanding service depending on public health restrictions and other pandemic-related considerations.
The bus schedule can be accessed here: https://www.bctransit.com/documents/1529710249414.
