The gridlock starts earlier now. Five years ago, Patrick Seward left his home in Colwood at 7 a.m. to avoid the traffic. Now, he takes off at 6:30 a.m. to make the 20- to 25-minute drive to his job at the University of Victoria.
The trip home, however, takes double that time, thanks to the worsening bottleneck that is the Colwood Crawl.
On occasion, Seward bikes — making the trip in about the same time it takes to drive — and would consider switching to transit if it were a faster, more efficient option. But that’s not the case now, with buses sitting in the same traffic jams as everyone else.
“In fact,” he said, “it’s a little bit slower than taking a vehicle.”
The ongoing congestion is one reason transportation has surfaced as a key election issue on southern Vancouver Island.
The B.C. Liberals, who are seeking a fifth straight term as government, tout their investments in road improvements, the McKenzie interchange and transit — including $10 million for a northbound bus priority lane on the Trans-Canada Highway between Tolmie Avenue and the new overpass.
“Definitely, there has been a lot of money going into infrastructure here,” said Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, who is running for the Liberals in Esquimalt-Metchosin.
“Nobody is going to turn this thing around overnight.”
But the B.C. NDP and B.C. Green Party say the Liberals have had plenty of time to address the issue.
“It’s the story of how undervalued this region has been by the B.C. Liberals during their 16 years in power,” said the NDP’s Rob Fleming, who is seeking re-election in Victoria-Swan Lake.
He points to the Liberals’ failure to deliver on a 2008 plan to run rapid bus service between Victoria and the West Shore by using the shoulders of the Trans-Canada Highway.
“We’re at a crossroads right now where poor funding and a reduced level of service are literally pushing people back into their cars, when we should be taking a tremendous step forward with more transportation options for the travelling public,” Fleming said.
Green candidate Adam Olsen, who is running in Saanich North and the Islands, said the Liberals have made “a mess” of transportation in the capital region.
“Just building bigger roads doesn’t work,” he said. “We need to diversify the modes of transportation and provide people options that are attractive, comfortable and efficient.”
All three parties tout the potential for a commuter service on the E&N rail line between Victoria and the West Shore.
“Anybody’s who’s travelled from West Shore to downtown really knows that we need to fix the gridlock, because it doesn’t take much to lock up the whole roadwork system,” Desjardins said.
“We’re at the point where we feel that there’s no option at all but to move a proposal forward for the E&N corridor for commuter service.”
The NDP and Greens, however, say the Liberals have been all talk and no action, most recently announcing a “working group” to further study the issue.
“The E&N rail line is one, in my opinion, that should have been done a long time ago,” Olsen said.
Fleming described the Liberals as “passive” players, delegating the issue to agencies with no money to move the project forward. The NDP is “committed to making the province take the lead on that,” he said.
Victoria Coun. Ben Isitt, who sits on the board of the Island Corridor Foundation, is optimistic commuter service between Langford and Victoria could soon become a reality.
“There seems to be more provincial buy-in in improving and using that corridor than there has been in some time,” Isitt said, noting: “It’s great to see the commitment to fixing up the E&N within the opposition’s campaign platform.”
An active rail link is key to “maintaining Victoria’s role as the employment, commercial and cultural capital of the Island,” he said. A commuter train could also bring substantial benefits for the city by freeing up increasingly scarce downtown parking spaces, he said.
Victoria Regional Transit Commission chair Susan Brice said she has not heard a single candidate address the commission’s requested gas-tax increase of two cents a litre, which would be used to expand service.
“Generally, I’ve heard candidates speak in global terms about public transit, but I haven’t heard anyone mention the two cents,” Brice said.
The capital region’s gas tax is 3.5 cents per litre and raises $11.7 million annually. The additional two cents per litre would generate another $7 million.
Commission members had expected a two-cent jump in the gas tax in the last provincial budget. The rate has not changed since 2008.
The province subsequently provided a $1.63-million injection of cash, allowing the Victoria commission to add 20,000 service hours this year and buy eight new buses.
On the Lower Mainland, funding for the TransLink system includes a 17-cents-per-litre gas tax.
What the parties are promising
B.C. Greens
• provide an additional $25 million per year for public transit across B.C.
• invest an additional $152 million in capital expenditures to match federal spending on public transit infrastructure.
• promote investment in clean transportation initiatives and technology —
• promote choices with a lower carbon footprint
• develop a 10-year transportation plan focused on affordable, clean transportation
B.C. Liberals
• invest $25 million over the next two years on upgrades to the Malahat and Patricia Bay highways
• complete McKenzie interchange
• study and assess the possibility of using the E&N railway corridor for commuter service from Victoria to the West Shore
• increase funding to B.C. Transit and handyDART services across B.C. based on population, need and usage
B.C. NDP
• match federal infrastructure funding to develop a regional transit plan for capital region
• partner with the federal and municipal governments on new buses, rapid and frequent bus networks, and dedicated transit lanes
• increase service hours for conventional transit and HandyDART
• play a leading role in restoring the E&N tracks for commuter rail
• examine the potential for a regional transportation authority with area mayors
