Lake Country council is driving forward with improvements to the district鈥檚 public transportation options.
At its April 1 meeting, council was presented with Phase 3 of the Integrated Transit Strategy which included four recommendations to increase transit use and expansion:
- Improve mid-day service on Route 32 in response to the growing ridership on the route. Add approximately four hours of service in the middle of the day. Continuous service on route from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every weekday. Estimated in service is January 2026;
- Provide a direct, fast, one-seat ride from Lake Country to 麻豆精选. Modify the current Route 23 service and extend the Route 97 to the district. One-seat ride to 麻豆精选 and increased service span and frequency to UBC Okanagan. In-service date to be confirmed by BC Transit and City of 麻豆精选;
- Implement a summer shuttle in the district. A hop-on, hop-off type service focused on service to the beaches and wineries. Ideally, start as a pilot and continued if successful. Estimated in service is summer 2026;
- Explore OnDemand transit. Ideal service areas include Oyama and Carr鈥檚 Landing. Riders can book a trip on their phone. Estimate in service to be confirmed by BC Transit.
Councillor Cara Reed expressed support for the Route 97 extension.
鈥淚 would like to see that it doesn鈥檛 slip off BC Transit鈥檚 to do list鈥�2027 is kind of a long target鈥攊f we can bring it in sooner than that I think it would be of a lot of benefit to this community,鈥� she said.
Currently Route 23 provides access to the airport on all trips except four, two each in the morning and evening. Route 97 will provide a similar level of service. According to the staff report, the Airport Authority and City of 麻豆精选 are in talks to discuss streamlining access to routes in and out of the airport for efficient and convenient routing of transit services within the airport.
Phase 4 of the Intergrated Transit Strategy will work through the implementation of the chosen options at the direction of council.
