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Decision made on where buses will stop near hospital

The Comox Valley Regional District came to a verdict on where buses will stop in front of the new North Island Hospital at its Oct. 17 meeting.
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A zoomed-in view of the hospital from the approved bus stop, just past the intersection of Lerwick Rd. and Waters Pl. Photo by Scott Strasser.

The Comox Valley Regional District came to a verdict on where buses will stop in front of the new North Island Hospital at its Oct. 17 meeting.

And it’s the same decision the CVRD originally approved this summer — to have no. 6 buses traveling north stop just past Waters Pl. on Lerwick Rd.

Read More: Comox Valley buses will not stop at new hospital entrance

The yet-to-be-built stop is roughly 100 meters away from the hospital entrance and across the street. The buses will stop there for a year before reporting back to the CVRD how it went.

The decision was originally made in August and sparked some backlash from community members who argued the location of the stop was unsafe. Critics also said the distance from the bus stop to the hospital’s main entrance was too far to walk, particularly for those with mobility issues and the elderly.

Read More: Debate continues on where buses will stop at new Comox Valley hospital

Some CVRD directors members recommended the buses could make a left turn and loop through the hospital parking lot, as was previously planned. But BC Transit was against that proposition.

“Routing transit services through busy internal hospital roads would impact on-time performance of the transit service and operational costs, and therefore is not recommended,” said BC Transit communications coordinator Maureen Sheehan in a previous statement.

To address concerns, the CVRD conducted a site visit of the area earlier this fall, alongside representatives from BC Transit, the hospital and North Island College.

As was the case back in August, Courtenay mayor and director Larry Jangula was the most outspoken against the decision on Oct. 17.

“Have you sought info from City of Courtenay staff on these stops?” said Jangula. “I find it very doubtful that you’d be able to build a bus stop on Waters without building a shelter, which the City of Courtenay taxpayers will pay for.”

The only two directors to vote against the proposal were Jangula and Courtenay director Manno Theos.