282 people from Cortes, Quadra and the Outer Island’s as well as some visitors participated in CCEDA’s passenger transportation survey. They were asked about a variety of options for passengers in the islands, a bus, taxi, carpool, van pool, or rideshare.
“We found that the most popular option for all respondents was a bus on Quadra that included both ferries. Cortes and Outer-Island residents only need a bus that goes from the Cortes Ferry to the Quadra Ferry. They don’t necessarily need to go anywhere else on Quadra. It’s just that straight line that so many people take across Quadra. On Quadra, the most popular option was a bus that included both ferries, but also made a loop. It would be helpful for people living on Quadra and visitors to get around Quadra,” explained Jennifer Banks-Doll, Project Lead for Quadra Island.
“Those were the most popular, but of course those are also the most expensive options to try to implement. Which is why we wanted to look at what else people would be interested in?”
“People are also really interested in having some kind of a taxi or ride-hail, because of course a bus doesn’t necessarily come to your door unless you’re really lucky and live on the route. It doesn’t come exactly when you need it. It doesn’t necessarily have a direct route. It doesn’t necessarily take you home from the bar at night.”
“People are still really interested in some kind of door to door option that they would be paying more for, but it might be needed under certain circumstances.”
“Ride sharing was really popular and in terms of economics, ride sharing is really the most economically feasible as well as the easiest to organize because it’s already being organized on Quadra and Cortes, through Better At Home. That is a very small number of people who can access it that way, but it’s a worldwide program funded here to help people stay in their homes. We found that many more people than that small number of clients that Better at home has are interested in ride sharing.”
“The thing that was motivating people the most to use passenger transportation was basically reducing their carbon footprint. A lot of people who responded have their own vehicles. They wanted to not always have to use them and be able to use options that are more environmentally sensitive.”
“A lot of people wanted to have an option when they couldn’t drive:
- Maybe their car is in the shop,
- or they’re a one car household and sometimes they need more than one vehicle,
- or they have teenagers in their home, or even older children.
It would be great if they didn’t have to drive them everywhere, and they could take public transportation.”
“All of these options are now part of this big soup and we need to prioritize them. So we put them through a matrix to look at, ‘okay, this is what the survey said, these are the popular things, but what are the things that we could find funding for?’ What are the things that are easy to organize versus those it would take a year or two to get up and running? What are the most environmental options, and the options that would move the most number of people around. We use all these different criteria.”
We’ve decided to move ahead with two priorities.One is a bus on Quadra. There is funding out there and I think more funding is going to be announced as we advance towards the provincial and federal elections, but the government is really looking for ways to meet our targets for emissions. So they’re really trying to get communities to look at public transportation.”
“We’re looking at that. We’re looking at how we can do more organized carpooling. We’re looking at helping to facilitate having a ride hailing service on Quadra and Cortes. Then we’re looking at some kind of an option for Cortes, at least to get people to the ferry because getting back and forth to the ferry is just so crazy on Cortes with a lot of people driving back and which is really expensive, time consuming and not great for the environment.”
“We’re actually talking to Hollyhock right now about their shuttle. Is that something that could be used for public transportation when it’s not being used for their clients and things like that?”
Cortes Currents: I noticed that one of the ideas that was brought up was a shuttle bus to connect to the first and last ferry on Cortes. Was that the Hollyhock shuttle you were talking about?
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “Yes, and it’d be great if they could do more than just the first and last ferries, but I think that those were the top priorities. The Klahoose bus can take people to Campbell River, but it doesn’t get on the first ferry.”
“If you really need to get that first ferry, you don’t have a lot of options other than parking your vehicle there the night before, which is just really hard for people. So having something connecting to the first ferry and then the last ferry, I think they’re just the two most in demand. If people want to go to Campbell River for the day, they can really maximize their time off island and then come back on the last ferry. I think the Hollyhock shuttle isn’t so busy during those times, so that may also be a good fit.”
Cortes Currents: Is this an idea that would require financing in order to work?
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “I think it would be a combination of charging a fare, and then grants and probably other fundraising. If we do have a bus, the fare would be kept fairly low, but it would still be something.”
“We’re also looking at doing the Hollyhock shuttle as a ride hail. We’d have to do the math on all of that, but I think grants are going to be necessary, and all public transit is subsidized. So it’s not like we need to pretend that we’re not going to need to subsidize it, because we will.”
Cortes Currents: I’m actually relieved to see the idea of a bike lane running across Cortes or Quadra isn’t a priority. I think it’s a fantastic idea, the only thing I balk at is the cost. I might change my tune if it is financed through a grant.
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “That wasn’t part of our study, but I know that’s happening simultaneously.”
“Here on Quadra, Robyn Mawhinney has money to do a plan for active transportation and I know there is money to do bike lanes, but they are just so expensive. It’s too bad because they really are needed.”
“Is it a bike lane along an existing road, or is it like cutting through the middle of the island? I don’t know about Cortes, but on Quadra, we have a lot of woodlots that are in the middle and that have a lot of public trails on them. So I could see that, say, we wanted to create bike transit around the island, some of it could be off road, which comes with its own hazards.”
“It may not be cars that are the hazards, but there’s other hazards when you’re In the middle of the woods.”
Cortes Currents: Only about 7% of the population of Cortes, Quadra and the other islands responded to your survey. Were any of the comments negative?
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “I actually was quite pleasantly surprised by how much support was voiced through that survey. Now, because it is only 7%, it’s hard to say how representative it is.”
“We did have some people say no, they wouldn’t use public transportation. It was low numbers. I think we only had one person who was really negative and that person didn’t give their name. So I have no idea who they were. I would love to be able to follow up with them and have a discussion.”
“It’s hard to know what the impact of a bus would be on our islands. I think there would probably be good and bad aspects to it, but it’s hard to know if you would use it until you see the schedule. Does it fit with your lifestyle? I think part of it is a cultural shift and that once people get used to the idea there may be some success. Many more people are going to be willing to use it and it could become something that people really rely on.”
Cortes Currents: Now you have a survey, where do you go from here?
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “We’re now in phase two of our public consultation.
We have a grant that is funding this project, and it’s funding projects all around BC to do similar work to take a step forward in terms of public consultation in rural communities but they require us basically to do what we said we would do, and we said we would do a 2nd round of public consultation.”
“Right now, we have designed a bus route and a schedule for Quadra Island. We are just finalizing those ideas, and we’re going to take those and shop them around. So we’re going to be doing some focus groups, and we’re also going to be putting those things up on the website and directing people to provide their comments because it’s August. It’s really hard to get people together for a meeting in August.”
“We know a lot of people won’t be able to come to focus groups, but we do really want to provide people with a chance to provide feedback. So we’ll be doing that over the next month. We’re still doing a few more stakeholder interviews and we’re also starting to talk to the Hollyhock Shuttle Coastal Rides.”
“We’re looking at ride sharing through the Poparide share app, to see if that might work here. We’re also trying to have conversations with BC ferries because they may be looking at running a shuttle across Quadra as well in early 2026 when the ferry isn’t going to be running. There’s likely to be passenger transportation, but not vehicles. So how are people going to get across Quadra? So, it’s kind of good timing because maybe we could partner with BC Ferries. they’re very large and we’re very small and so they may or may not be interested in something like that.”
“We’re going to explore it and see, but we’re going to be looking for funding to do some kind of a pilot for next year.”
Cortes Currents: What about on Cortes?
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “Right now we’re looking at partnering with Hollyhock and we’ve also reached out to the Klahoose bus and they are interested in talking to us as well.”
“We’re going to see what we can figure out for Cortes. That would be great, for example, Lovefest is coming up this weekend and getting to Lovefest by driving from here is just going to be impossible, but if there was a bus that could pick people up.”
Cortes Currents: There will be shuttle connections between Lovefest and Mansons, the Gorge and Squirrel Cove, but they have not mentioned any transporttaion to or from the ferry terminal.
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “Just having a way to get off the ferry and get into Manson’s and get to some other key places on Cortes would be really great.”
“When I come to Cortes for work, I have to get picked up. Someone needs to come all the way to the ferry to pick me up and take me back. It’s not the most convenient and it’s a lot of gas. It’s a long way from the ferry to Mansons.”
Cortes Currents: Do you have any final thoughts?
Jennifer Banks-Doll: “We will probably be putting out more newspaper articles and updates on our website. Our grant requires us to wrap up and submit the final report by the end of September. So, by September, we’re going to be doing a lot of writing and doing the final consultation pieces with our advisory group.”
Links of Interest
- Seeking Solutions For Passenger Transportation On Quadra Island, Cortes Island, and the Outer Islands – CCEDA
- Articles about, or mentioning, Transportation on Cortes Island
- Articles about, or mentioning, Transportation on Quadra Island
All undesignated photos and graphs courtesy CCEDA
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