The District of Squamish is planning to implement free summer weekend transit this year.
However, there are two conditions that would need to be met on or before July 27 for the district to implement free transit.
The first condition is that the province should have moved to Phase 3 of its Restart Plan.
In Phase 3, people can take part in smart and safe travel within the province, and if transmission rates remain low, cinemas, schools, camping and movie productions will be allowed to resume in BC.
However, the province has given no specific date on which it would move to Phase 3.
Before the district implements free transit, it would also wait for BC Transit to increase bus capacity to approximately two-thirds of the seated capacity.
BC Transit has also implemented new measures including capacity management. It said it would continue to target a “comfortable capacity” on buses.
This measure, BC Transit says, might result in buses being full and customers experiencing pass ups. BC Transit is also encouraging customers to use face masks and NextRide to check for capacity in advance.
A few weeks ago, staff had recommended that council defer the free summer weekend transit program to 2021.
The free summer transit program started last year in May, with the council supporting the service from June to September with financial support from the Sea to Sky Gondola.
In a report to the council, the staff had earlier said free weekend transit did not align well with the current situation as keeping COVID-19 transmissions low remained a priority.
In a reversal, the staff recommends the implementation of free summer transit if the two conditions are fulfilled before July 27.
The free summer weekend transit would cost approximately $6,750.
