Agassiz and Harrison residents had the opportunity to comment on the future of transit in the Fraser Valley, after an open house held by BC Transit Tuesday (April 2).
The transit provider had been holding open houses across Chilliwack, Agassiz and Hope for several days in an effort to develop a new “Future Action Plan” for the region’s transit.
“The goal is really to see where transit is meeting the community’s needs, and where they see those needs in the future,” Lisa Trotter, senior manager of government relations at BC Transit, said. “A lot of communities in the Fraser Valley have been growing pretty rapidly, and we recognize that with that comes new developments and new areas that might have a need for transit.”
The open house gave residents the opportunity to comment on several areas, including what needs to change for transit facilities, what the best options are for rapid and frequent transit options, what can be improved for the Agassiz-Harrison system and whether a transit route between the District of Kent and Mission is needed.
During the open houses, residents could vote on the importance of different areas using stickers and provide feedback on sticky notes. Staff were also on hand to write down comments from residents.
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Overall, Trotter said, most residents had wanted things like better transit shelters and more frequent service on evenings and weekends.
Comments on sticky notes at the Agassiz open house showed that residents were more or less in agreement with those desires.
“Start earlier and end later for youth and adults who have jobs to go to, especially in Harrison in the summer,” one read.
Other comments asked for service improvements on weekends, a way for people without phones to find out if buses are in service and tactile paving for people who are visually impaired.
Anyone who wasn’t able to make it to the open houses is still invited to provide their input through an online survey (available through BC Transit’s website). The survey will remain open until April 12.
Comments from both the open houses and the online survey will be compiled into a report and brought forward to the Fraser Valley Regional District and the City of Chilliwack in the fall. If the report is adopted, it will become the basis for a Future Action Plan for the region.
grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com
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