Image Credit: BC Transit

By Victor Kaisar

Transit Update

Slow uptick in new handyDART service as BC Transit prepares for evening, weekend bus service to Tk’emlúps

Dec 29, 2024 | 3:53 PM

KAMLOOPS — BC Transit says it has seen a slow uptick of people using the new handyDART service to Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc that began on Sept. 3 this year.

“I think word has been a little bit slow to get out that the service is there, but from what I’m hearing it is starting to pick up again and we’re seeing more handyDART trips,” Elise Wren, BC Transit’s Manager of Government Relations told CFJC Today.

“These are trips on a service that you register for and its based on accessibility needs.”

Exactly how many handyDART trips there have been to and from Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc is not clear at this time, though there have been calls for this door-to-door transit service expansion going back back several years.

At present, handyDART is available in the Kamloops Transit System on Monday to Saturday from 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.. It is not available on statutory holidays, though that is expected to change next year.

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According to the province, handyDART service in Kamloops was expanded by 4,000 hours in September to also include weekends and peak hours, in a bid to reduce the use of the taxi-supplement program.

The expansion of handyDART service to include Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc is in addition to a planned expansion of new evening and weekend service on the Route 18 Mount Paul bus, which is set to take effect on Jan. 6, 2025. This expansion will also include a new stop at Sweláps Market, at the intersection of Highway 5 and Shuswap Road.

“Whenever we implement new service, we have a team at BC Transit that is dedicated to the City of Kamloops and Kamloops transit to look at the routes that are existing,” Wren said, when asked if the bus schedules could be tweaked or taken away in the future, based on ridership.

“We have planners and schedulers that are watching the stats all the time. It’s very normal that if we introduce new service to re-evaluate after a certain amount of time and then reorganize things a little bit but not taking anything away.”

Wren says these service level expansions, like with all BC Transit bus routes in Kamloops, was made possible by an increase in local government and provincial funding.