The series was moderately interesting. The one thing that I note above else out of the series is the scale with which people are out of touch with want is realistic.
Can we really expect people to get out of their cars when more and more of the jobs in the region are not at the hub of transit?
As an example, there are a lot of offices on Chatterton Way, on the south side of Broadmead. There is no easy way for most people to get to this location with a bus unless they live on the route of the number 6. With the nice access to highway 17, I suspect that there are almost no transit users for this location.
The same sort of thing applies for the Vancouver Island Technology Park. Only the #39 gets you there, though the #8 and #21 get you to Camosun Interurban. Frankly, Camosun interurban is not well served at all given the number of people out there each and every day.
And then we have all the high tech/light industrial out in Central Saanich. Only the #75 services the area.
Places people work in the region are further and further dispersed. Making transit work will be harder all the time.
The best thing that could be done would be focus all work/education/entertainment expansion in the region in the following area:
Blanshard - Finlayson - Burnside - Tillicum - Mackenzie.
By using this as the core, there is a easy access to it from almost everywhere. It makes a perfect new hub for all transit in the region. Highway 17 and Highway 1 feed right into the area.
Already this area has buses going out to all the Western Communities and Saanich Penisula. It has bus connections to Gordon Head, Esquimalt, James Bay, Oak Bay, Fernwood, Broadmead and more.
The redevelopment of the Town and Country mall is a good start, as is all the work at Selkirk water. But there has to be a lot more done in this area. This is where the major arena should have gone for this region. Ideally there should be a lot more office buildings constructed in this area and move government further out from the current downtown.
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