The Regional District of Nanaimo wants the province to establish an inter-regional transportation plan for Vancouver Island.
The province, which in 2014 created a 10-year transportation plan called B.C. on the Move, has not established any plans to link Island communities together.
RDN’s Director of Transportation, Daniel Pearce, said in his report to the Transit Select Committee that Vancouver Island’s population is growing, increasing five per cent from 759,336 in 2011 to 799,400 in 2016.
This growth, he added, coupled with increasingly important factors such as an aging demographic and climate change, will continue to place even more pressure on the existing transportation and transit networks.
Pearce stressed the importance of linking Island communities together by inter-regional transit, as well as other modes of transportation, being crucial for economic growth.
It was suggested that the RDN request the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities to create a resolution to ask the province to create a Vancouver Island Master Transportation Plan that includes inter-regional transit solutions.
The resolution, Pearce indicated, would assist in ensuring the province is aware of the growing demands of transit and alternative travel choices on Vancouver Island.