Langdale resident says she would have had to leave Gibsons Legion before midnight to catch the last bus at 12:05
(By Elizabeth Rains)
BC Transit wanted everyone to get home safely on New Years Eve—or so the promotional material suggested. A submitted story in the Coast Reporter said that on December 31, Sunshine Coast Transit would provide “regular service with extended free evening service.”
I expected that to mean that buses would run after midnight.
My husband and I had been planning a night at the Gibsons Legion, dancing to Playback, an excellent party band. To party excellently, we’d drink.
So I decided to check the bus schedule to see when we’d have to leave the Legion for Langdale. The story said readers could view a New Year’s schedule at bctransit.com/sunshine-coast.
“Bus service levels will vary in each BC Transit community for Christmas Day December 25, Boxing Day December 26, and New Year’s Day January 1,” the page read, followed by a link that said “Keep reading.” That led to:
“Bus service levels will vary in each BC Transit community for Christmas Day December 25, Boxing Day December 26, and New Year’s Day January 1. If you are not sure what your local service levels are, please call your local customer service.”
So I called the customer service line at 5:30 p.m. on December 31. A recording said the office was closed. Then there was a list of links to information including lost and found, and trip planning. The “trip planning” message said to look at the BC Transit website.
After Googling for 20 minutes, I found a link to the New Year’s Eve schedule for the Sunshine Coast. Here it is. Note that the final bus going south from anywhere near the Legion left at 12:05 a.m.:
If I were leave the Legion five seconds after midnight, forgo the kisses and champagne, and huff down the hill, I could catch the bus at 12:05 a.m. But I’d have to race like a marathon runner. Google says it’s a 12-minute walk.
Or I could enjoy the kisses and champagne, walk to the bus stop, and wait in the rain for the next bus to come at 5:53 am.
I could also ring in the 2020 New Year while it was still 2019. Or I could drive my car.
I left for the Legion undecided and hoped that I’d get home safe.
Jan. 1 update: A friend drove me home. May you have a happy New Year and better bus service in 2020.
Elizabeth Rains is an author, editor and editing instructor. To contact Elizabeth please go to Rains.ca.
And what about people who were partying in Sechelt and needed to get back to Gibsons? They’d have to leave even earlier. Someone wasn’t thinking about the realities of New Year’s Eve!
Also, the bus stop information you were given was inaccurate. As a frequent bus rider I can tell you that there is a stop much closer than 12 minutes walk from the Gibsons Legion. It’s under five minutes down hill in front of the Executive House apartment building. There’s another one up hill that I think is even closer, in front of the Kerns Plaza. (I’m assuming you’d be going down hill because I think you live in Langdale? But the bus stops are not too far apart on the other side either.) Never mind, though. That’s still cutting it too fine.