‘It’s their independence’: Cancellation of Vancouver Island bus service leaves passengers stranded

A bus service on Vancouver Island that connects Victoria and Tofino has suspended service until May, leaving some passengers stranded.

Christine Brice took the last bus back to Ucluelet from Victoria on Monday.

She told Global News she is not a regular user of the bus service but she knows of people who consider it a lifeline.

“That’s how they visit family, that’s how they attend medical appointments, whether they have no vehicle or have a single vehicle, it’s pretty critical and I know the service was missed over the pandemic,” she said.

In a notice posted on its website, Tofino Bus, which also operates the Vancouver Island Connector, said it will be pausing services from Jan. 3 until May as it “looks to move towards a more seasonal service.”

John Wilson, president and CEO of The Wilson’s Group of Companies, which acquired the bus service in 2018, said this decision was a difficult one.

“We are very concerned about the safety of the people who rely on our service. Sadly, we have no other options,” Wilson said in the statement.

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Tofino Bus is Vancouver Island’s only intercity bus service.

Brice said there are no other affordable ways to travel across the island.

“Hitchhiking is very dangerous,” she said. “There’s no cell service along that stretch of highway.”

Wilson said that ridership dropped so much during the pandemic that it never recovered and the number of riders during the peak spring and summer seasons is not enough to sustain the service during the slower months.

Brice said she did not think the suspension of service was well publicized and some ticket holders were left in the lurch.

“I think the difficulty is, they’re a private business but they’re doing a public service,” she said.

“It’s really ironic that we’re there at the ferry terminal, which is a publically-subsidized service to get people back and forth from the island to the mainland but at a time when you’re trying to address peoples’ affordability issues with housing and transportation, cost of gas as well as reduce our imprint on the environment and the cost of climate change, this service is going to go.”

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Brice said some Ucluelet residents have started looking for other options, such as taxis or flying, but for most people, that is an added cost they do not want to absorb.

“I was talking to people yesterday and they were saying (the bus service) is how they visit their family and it’s their independence.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said it is in “regular communication with Wilson to better understand the issue and will continue to look for a solution.”