Claudia Culley
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
The Regional District of Nanaimo’s BC Transit services will be expanded in 2026 with a total of 7,000 additional annual service hours set to be implemented with the winter schedule change-over.
Starting Jan. 4, an additional 4,000 annual service hours and three expansion vehicles will be added into the RDN’s conventional transit system to support Route 1 – Nanaimo Rapid Line and Route 40 – VIU Express. Implementing additional service efforts on these routes falls in line with the RDN’s Transit Redevelopment Strategy, which was developed in 2022 and aims to improve the region’s conventional transit services.
An additional 3,000 annual service hours will also be added to the handyDART service. Of that, 2,000 hours will be allocated to weekends and a new holiday service. The remaining 1,000 hours will support weekday services, increasing booking times throughout the system. The handyDART service expansion also includes two additional operation vehicles.
BC Transit does not operate on Gabriola as the RDN found an on-island bus system would provide transit more cheaply and with better service, said Vanessa Craig, director of Electoral Area B.
However, the RDN does provide funding to the GERTIE Community Bus and helps fund transportation programs on Gabriola like Taxi Saver, which is operated by People for a Healthy Community and offers coupons to seniors and people with disabilities for discounted taxi travel.
Craig said that the RDN is unable to merge the BC Transit services with the GERTE Community bus services.
“Because we are not part of the RDN Transit system in the sense that we do not pay any taxes toward RDN Transit…, there is no ability to “meld” the two systems. The RDN Transit system is a partnership with BC Transit whereas our independent system is provided by a local non-profit.”
The BC Transit expansions are part of the RDN’s memorandum of understanding with BC Transit for transit improvement, which was approved last fall to be implemented this year and the following two years.
The conventional 4,000-hour transit expansion is expected to cost $742,848 per year, while the 3,000-hour handyDART expansion has an estimated annual cost of $295,739. Both costs will be shared with BC Transit, who will cover 46.69 per cent and 33.31 per cent of the costs respectively. That leaves the RDN to cover the remaining costs of $352,639 for conventional transit and $107,311 for the handyDART.
Both expansions were included in the memorandum of understanding and have been budgeted for 2026 in the RDN’s 2025-2029 financial plan. The outlined costs will be funded by the City of Nanaimo with no cost-sharing from other jurisdictions as the routes impacted by the expansions are within the city only.
In June, the RDN board approved service expansions for the Nanaimo/Cowichan Commuter, or Nanaimo-Cowichan Express (NCX), as part of the memorandum of understanding. Supported by an additional 1,000 annual service hours, the expansion will introduce Sunday service and improve on-time performance. Implementation is planned for Aug. 31 and is expected to cost $131,584 per year, which BC Transit will cover 46.69 per cent of. The RDN and Cowichan Valley Regional District will split the remainder of the cost.
The RDN’s BC Transit memorandum called to increase annual expansion hours for conventional transit to 16,100 hours in 2026. While 4,000 are set to be implemented, the remaining 12,100 have been moved to 2027’s transit expansion cycle, as well as five expansion vehicles. Other expansion plans BC Transit has recommended the RDN consider for 2027 include an added 250 annual service hours for the Route 99 extension on Baylis Road and Dorman Road in Electoral Area H.
To learn more about transit in the RDN, visit https://rdn.bc.ca/regional-transit.
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