Parking congestion in Ganges on Saturdays could be eased this summer through use of a new parking shuttle service.
Salt Spring’s community economic development and transportation commissions are working to initiate the service with help from the Parks and Recreation Commission and the nonprofit Transition Salt Spring society. The shuttle would bring people who park outside the downtown core to the Saturday market area, potentially making use of the school bus that PARC leases for its Camp Colossal day camp program.
Transportation commission chair Robin Williams attended Thursday’s CEDC meeting to speak about the program, and thanked CEDC chair Francine Carlin and the commission for getting the project rolling with a report they put out in 2017.
“It’s always been an idea that we should do something about Saturday parking,” Williams said. “We kind of got tagged with it because we run the bus service, but the regular bus service is just not suitable, because of the complex funding arrangement between BC Transit and the CRD.”
Looking at how to execute the idea, Williams said they needed to find someone who could apply for a CRD grant-in-aid. CEDC members voted Thursday to support Transition Salt Spring in doing so.
The amount being requested has not been disclosed, but Williams said there will hopefully be enough to hire a coordinator. The aim is to get the service running in time for the Tour des Iles festival from June 22 to 24 using a school district bus, but if not they intend to run Saturdays from June 30 to Sept. 1.
For more on this story, see the May 23, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.