The director of the FVRD regional programs, Barclay Pitkethly, has visited both Agassiz and Harrison Hot Springs councils over the past few weeks to deliver findings from a 2011 Fraser Valley Trip Diary study.
The study polled about 4,900 Fraser Valley residents, who agreed to submit their travel details for one week in October. They were asked to report their mode of travel (car, transit, walking, biking, and other) and their reason for travel, such as work/post-secondary, shopping and recreation.
The study found that only 3.8 per cent of FVRD residents are crossing the Port Mann bridge, and that 46.3 per cent of Agassiz and Harrison residents work in this area. That statistic surprised Coun. Holger Schwichtenberg.
"This is not a bedroom community after all," he said.
The numbers from 2011 were impressive enough, Pitkethly told council, but were also "artificially low" due to the recent bumping up of services and addition of more modern and accommodating "vicinity" buses. Both improvements to service were brought in because of the success of transit in the area, but that has also encouraged more people to take transit.
Route 11, which connects Agassiz and Harrison to Chilliwack, is one of the most successful routes in the province, transit authority has stated in the past.
Still, in 2011, only one per cent of travelers were using transit, while 66 per cent were driving a car and 17 per cent were traveling as a passenger.
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