The Martlet

It finally happened: we were heard.

For years students have been asking the Victoria Regional Transit Commission (VRTC) to give us late-night service. We need it to get home from work, we argued. It will help keep us safe, we pleaded.

And, tentatively, the powers that be listened. Alright, they said. We’ll try it out.

In January they gave us late-night transit until 1:30 a.m. on three routes, twice a week, as a test for three months. We were ecstatic, jumping for joy over the money we’d save on cab fare.

In May, after reviewing the pilot project, B.C. Transit recommended binning the service. It’s too expensive, they said. Late-night transit is just not worth the money.

But wait, we cried. You gave us a taste. Don’t take it away now.

Instead of lying down and accepting B.C. Transit’s recommendations, we rallied together. The UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) along with the Graduate Students’ Society (GSS) and the Camosun College Students Society (CSS), campaigned hard and made sure our collective voice as students was heard.

But that wasn’t all. The community joined in, with members writing letters to the VRTC expressing their desire to see the late-night service continue. Even the Victoria Police Department voiced their “full support,” saying that “This initiative helps to ensure that intoxicated persons and others who require affordable transportation late at night are able to get home safely.”

All those groups together must have made a lot of noise because the VRTC listened. Come September, late-night transit will be back in action for a full year.

It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to this point. Several groups, including past UVSS boards, have dedicated huge amounts of time, energy and resources into laying the groundwork that made late-night transit possible. Their work is finally paying off. Now we need to look to what we can do to make sure the service isn’t just a one-year deal.

First off, we need to use the service. The reason B.C. Transit recommended discontinuing late-night transit is that they think it’s too expensive. They recommended “that priority be given to service improvements addressing customer service issues with existing service or improving service where greater ridership can be achieved.” We need to prove that late-night transit is a good investment and the only way to do that is by using it.

We also need to talk about it. A lot of people have said that one reason late-night transit was under-utilized during the pilot project is that a lot of people didn’t know about it. We’ve spent enough time bitching about the transit in this city. Saying their doing something right will be a nice change of pace.

Finally, we should probably say thank you. Think late-night transit is a good thing for Victoria? Think it’s a good thing for you personally? Then take a few minutes to write the VRTC a note saying thanks. Tell them you appreciate their decision. Tell them why the service is important to you.

While you’re at it, tell them if you think they should add on additional routes or have a bus that runs even later than 1:30 a.m.

Why not? We’ve proven that we can make our voice loud enough to be heard. And by extending late-night transit, they’ve proved that they’re listening.