Victoria Regional Transit System


The Victoria Regional Transit System provides public transportation in the Greater Victoria region of British Columbia, Canada. Its operations are governed by the Victoria Regional Transit Commission in association with BC Transit. There were 25 million trips in 20232024.

History

Transit service began on February 22, 1890 by the National Electric Tramway and Light Company with four street cars on two routes. On May 26, 1896 a packed streetcar crashed through the Point Ellice Bridge and 55 people were killed. The Consolidated Electric Railway Company was forced into receivership by the disaster and emerged reorganized as the British Columbia Electric Railway on April 15, 1897.
File:BCTransitDennisTrident 9008 December2019.jpg|thumb|left|A Dennis Trident at Fifth at Beacon stop in downtown Sidney. This bus is part of the first order of low-floor double-decker buses for public transit in Canada.
The use of buses started in 1923 for outlying routes. Although trolley buses were tried in 1945, the transit system was completely converted to motor buses in 1948. In 1961 BC Electric became part of BC Hydro, a Crown corporation, before the transit system was moved to the crown agency that would become BC Transit. In 2000, Victoria became the first city in North America to use low-floor buses and double decker buses in regular public transit service, as well as the first city to use hybrid double-decker buses in 2009. Victoria followed other BC Transit networks in late February 2020 with the introduction of compressed natural gas vehicles to their fleet.
Until 2019, all BC Transit vehicles in Victoria were equipped with Trekker Breeze+ annunciators to call out streets for the blind. BC Transit's NextRide automated stop and route announcements took the place of the street announcements, along with electronic screens on all buses showing the next stop.
In April 2023, BC Transit launched the first bus rapid transit line in the Victoria region. The new line is branded as Blink RapidBus and makes fewer stops with faster and more frequent service compared to typical bus lines.

Operations

The transit system has a total fleet of 356 buses on 37 conventional routes and 18 community bus routes covering Greater Victoria including: Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay, Langford, Esquimalt, View Royal, Colwood, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Sidney, Metchosin, Highlands and Sooke.
Primary bus route destinations are: Downtown Victoria, the University of Victoria, the Royal Oak Exchange in Saanich, the CFB Dockyard in Esquimalt, Langford Exchange in Langford, the Colwood Exchange in Colwood and the B.C. Ferries terminal at Swartz Bay in North Saanich.

Routes

Routes are named for the direction of travel, thus each route has two names, indicating direction. Some routes also change in the evening or on weekends, which changes the route name again.
Routes are divided into four levels:
  • Local routes, which are shown in grey and encompass the majority of routes
  • Frequent routes, which are shown in light blue and have headways of 15 minutes or better, 7 am to 7 pm, Monday to Friday
  • Regional routes, which are shown in light orange and provide limited-stop service
  • RapidBus routes, which are shown in dark orange and provide limited-stop service with headways of 15 minutes or better, 7 am to 10 pm, every day
Some routes, such as 15 Esquimalt / UVic meet the requirements of both the Frequent level and the Regional level, but are listed as Regional routes.
Route frequency in the Victoria Regional Transit System varies greatly, some routes operate on a commuter-focused schedule, such as the 51 UVic / Langford and the 65 Sooke / Downtown via Westhills, with directional departures limited to morning or afternoon times. Other local routes, such as the 43 Royal Roads via Belmont Park, operate infrequently due to low demand. Only one school special operates in the Victoria Regional Transit System, the 17 Cedar Hill, which operates once per direction per weekday. Other buses operate variants of their standard routes around the bell schedule of local schools.
RouteRoute NameNotes
1South Oak Bay / Downtown
2James Bay / South Oak Bay
3James Bay / Royal Jubilee
4UVic / Downtown
5James Bay / WillowsWas a branch of route 2 before 3 January 2022.
6Royal Oak Exchange / Downtown
6ARoyal Oak Exchange / Downtown via Emily Carr
6BRoyal Oak Exchange / Downtown via Chatterton
7UVic / Downtown
7NUVic / Downtown
8Interurban / Tillicum Centre / Oak Bay
9Royal Oak / UVic
10James Bay / Royal Jubilee
11Tillicum Centre / UVic
12University Heights / UVic
14Vic General / UVic
15Esquimalt / UVic
17Cedar Hill
21Interurban / Downtown
21NInterurban / Downtown
22Vic General / Hillside Centre
24Cedar Hill / Tillicum Centre
25Maplewood / Tillicum Centre
26UVic / Dockyard
26AUVic / Dockyard via Saanich Short turn service introduced on 3 September 2024.
26BUVic / Dockyard via Carey Short turn service introduced on 3 September 2024.
27Gordon Head / Downtown
27xDowntown Express
28Majestic / Downtown
28xMajestic Express
30Royal Oak Exchange / Downtown
31Royal Oak Exchange / Downtown
32Cordova Bay / Royal Oak Exchange
35Ridge
39Westhills / Interurban / Royal Oak / UVic
43Royal Roads via Belmont Park
46Dockyard / Westhills
47Goldstream Meadows / Downtown
48Happy Valley / Downtown
51Langford / UVic
52Colwood Exchange / Bear Mountain
53Vic General / Langford via Atkins
54Metchosin / Langford Exchange
55Happy Valley / Langford Exchange
49Skirt Mountain / Langford Exchange
57Thetis Heights / Langford Exchange
58Goldstream Meadows / Langford Exchange
59Triangle Mountain / Langford Exchange
60Wishart / Langford Exchange
61Sooke / Langford / Downtown
63Otter Point
64East Sooke / Sooke
65Sooke / Downtown via Westhills
70Swartz Bay / Downtown
71Swartz Bay / Downtown
72Swartz Bay / Downtown
75Saanichton / Royal Oak / Downtown
76Swartz Bay / UVic
81Brentwood / Saanichton / Sidney / Swartz Bay
82Sidney / Saanichton via Stautw
83Sidney / Brentwood / Royal Oak
85North Saanich
87Saanichton / Sidney via Dean Park/Airport
88Airport / Sidney
95Langford / Downtown RapidBus