City of Kelowna to review long-term plan for Rutland, Mission transit systems

Major changes are on the way for the Mission and Rutland transit systems in the next few years, according to a City of Kelowna staff report.

On Monday, staff will be presenting city council with the long term plan to restructure the transit systems to better serve people living in these two areas of the city.

Although this may be excellent news for people living in the Mission and Rutland, the implementation of better transit service is expected to take up to four years and will depend on council’s approval of future budgeting.

The improvements will be delivered incrementally due to the cost. The plans also heavily depend on the completion of the expansion of the Hardy Street transit operations centre.

However, once the two plans are fully implemented they would add nearly 20,000 hours of transit service.

City staff expect the restructuring of the Mission transit system and the launch of two new express routes in Rutland to begin by fall 2025.

The objectives for the Mission area are to improve connections to Canyon Falls Middle and Okanagan Mission Secondary schools, improve overall convenience and reduce transfers and trip time.

This would include the extension of the route 5 Gordon route from the Mission Recreation exchange into the lower Mission.

Combining routes 16 Kettle Valley and 17 Southridge is also being proposed to service more of the Upper Mission.

City staff say this would require the addition of one new bus to the Kelowna Regional Transit System and could happen as early as fall 2025.

The Rutland transit plan includes several proposed changes:

• Phased introduction of a new 98 Rutland-UBCO Express route connecting downtown Kelowna and Rutland, launching by fall 2025

• Splitting route 4 by introducing a new Academy Way route to better serve the University Heights and Reid’s Corner area

• Restructuring of route 10 North Rutland to improve service near Leathead Road

• Streaming a portion of route 11 Rutland to service the Rutland exchange

• Restructuring of route 14 Black Mountain to serve lower-density areas in north Rutland

In addition, the report says long-term changes for route 8 University are also being considered.

These enhancements would require an additional 16,000 service hours and will depend on resource availability.

“By improving transit connections and increasing service levels to key destinations such as urban and village centres, schools and employment hubs, transit becomes a more attractive and effective travel option,” the report concludes.

“The desired outcome is a city where public transit is a viable travel option and one that is utilized more frequently.”