Meaty, beaty bus's busy Now that Whistler municipality's transportation advisory group has collected its data from surveys, "we are now getting into the meat of the transportation issue," says chair Nancy Wilhelm-Morden. Traffic surveys conducted by Reid Crowther and preliminary forecasting by Ecosign indicate that Whistlerites are making good use of their bus system. An annual February passenger count conducted by Whistler transit says ridership is up. Almost 5,500 riders hopped aboard the red and white buses on an average day during the count period. "B.C. Transit informs me that in Whistler our total daily average with seven buses is greater than Kelowna's. And they have 20 buses," observes Wilhelm-Morden. It's expected that the Phase 1 report will be available to the transportation group by the end of March. The group will chew over the meaty numbers at its April 8 meeting before presenting their findings to municipal council April 14. "We're on target for the community workshop April 19," Wilhelm-Morden says. "The information collected by both Ecosign and Reid Crowther is impressive in its detail although it's too early to draw any conclusions."
