The Whistler and Valley Express is ramping up bus service once again following the addition of the Creekside Express bus in October and additional Village Shuttle service that got underway on opening day for Whistler Mountain.
Today (Nov. 26) the service ratchets up another notch with increased service to Whistler Creek and additional staff housing buses, as well as changes to some other routes.
Typically the full winter schedule would kick in on opening weekend, but RMOW traffic demand coordinator Emma DalSanto says that wasn't in the cards for this year.
"Full winter service is going to start on Dec. 18, and that date was basically given to us because of a lot of different parameters we had to work around," said DalSanto. "B.C. Transit has said Dec. 18, so from there we have had to work backwards and work with B.C. Transit to ramp up service where we could."
The transit service will actually ramp up in five phases this year - October's Creekside Express bus, the opening weekend Village Shuttle Service, the Nov. 26 (American Thanksgiving and opening day for Blackcomb) ramp up, the move to winter operations on Dec. 18 and the phasing in of the Olympic schedule on Feb. 1.
The Nov. 26 schedule includes additional Creekside Express service, more Whistler Creek bus service into Nordic during the day, early morning buses to and from staff housing at Base II and other small changes to enhance service. More service at the north end of town, including Tapley's Farm, will start on Dec. 18.
"Officially we're adding two full buses to the Creekside Express route from 7:53 a.m. to 7 p.m.... and with that extra Creekside service we were able to add more mid-day service through Nordic Estates," DalSanto explained. "Right now there's a gap from around 10:40 a.m. until noon, but we'll now be going into Nordic at 11:03 and 11:48, which was based on the feedback of riders.
"The other change is that on Thursday the staff housing route will have an early morning bus to get people to work on time at 5:47 a.m."
DalSanto herself rides the bus from Alpine Meadows and Emerald Estates in the morning and realizes that the 7:30 bus can get pretty busy with employees getting to work and skiers and snowboarders heading to the mountains. She said there remains lots of space on the 7 a.m. bus if riders change their schedules and urged people to be patient until the full winter service kicks in.
The Squamish-Whistler commuter bus is also changing its schedule slightly on Nov. 26. Riders now can request a detour into Brackendale on the return trips from Whistler, which wasn't available in the past. The change was made to compensate for the loss of Greyhound service, after Greyhound recently cut service along some routes that were popular with commuters.
DalSanto stresses that people using the bus have to ask the driver to divert into Brackendale, otherwise the bus will continue into Squamish.
The Olympic transportation plans are also coming together. B.C. Transit has not posted a final schedule as of yet, but more information is on the website this week at www.bctransit.com/Olympics, including a new route map that includes service to the athletes' village, Olympic venues, Kadenwood, Alta Lake Road, Squamish, Pemberton, Nordic Drive, Gondola Way, Black Tusk/Pinecrest and other destinations not included in the regular bus service. There is also a draft frequency chart that shows how often buses are expected to run, if not the exact times.
Some of the highlights include Creekside Express, Whistler Creek, Emerald Estates, Alpine Meadows and Tapley's Connector buses every seven minutes from 5 a.m. to midnight daily, and service through the night from 10 to 15 minutes. The Village Shuttle will run every five minutes, staff housing buses and buses to the athletes village every 10 minutes, and so on.
Connector buses to Squamish and Pemberton should leave every 10 to 15 minutes during peak periods, and every 20 to 30 minutes through the night.
DalSanto is cautioning locals to be aware that they will need to get special passes to ride the bus from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 - regular monthly passes, six-month passes and yearly passes will not work during that period. Six-month and 12 month passholders will be able to get the Olympic pass for free starting on Dec. 1 at municipal hall.
If you start a monthly pass in the middle of January it will stop working on Feb. 1, so DalSanto is urging people to take care. It is possible to get a pro-rated refund at municipal hall for lost days, but the best solution for transit users is not to start a monthly pass after Jan. 1, and to use other pass and ticket options in the meantime to make up the difference.
The Games time passes are available for $38.50, with unlimited service. You can also pay a $2 cash fare during the Games on all Whistler routes including the Village Shuttle, which will not be free during the Olympics.
The Squamish Connector pass is $95 for unlimited travel in Squamish and Whistler as well as the connector bus, or you can pay $10 to ride the connector.
The Pemberton Connector pass is $50, which includes service within Pemberton/Mt. Currie and service to Whistler. You can also pay a $6 fare.
