Qualicum Beach Councillor Mary Brouilette has big dreams for the town’s Shop to Shore shuttle bus, but in order to eventually realize them, she needs help from the community now.
“We want more riders,” Brouilette said. “Lots of people talked about it and said it was a great idea, but now they have to use it.”
The free service, designed to link the Qualicum Beach uptown business district with the beachfront recreation area, was inaugurated last summer and was hailed as successful enough as a pilot project to run it again this summer.
The shuttle departs on the hour from the Qualicum Beach Visitor Information Centre on Highway 19A, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. It continues along the waterfront to Kinkade Road, where it turns around and heads back as far as Crescent Road, where it turns onto Arbutus. The shuttle stops at Mill Street and Pine, Harlech Road and Beach, First. Ave. West between Beach Road and Jones, and Second Avenue at Beach, Primrose, Memorial and Fern Road.
The bus heads down Memorial to Fir Street and then Berwick Road and then Memorial Avenue outside the Memorial Golf Course parking lot. It arrives back at the Visitor Centre on the hour. Maps and schedules are available at many hotels, restaurants and businesses in the uptown and beachfront areas.
If deemed successful this summer, Brouilette said she has high hopes for the service.
“Our ultimate goal is to get a hybrid bus at some point, or an electric vehicle,” she said.
“However, we need people to support it. I know mentally it’s supported, but we are not used to having it.”