BC Transit announces opening of new operations and maintenance center in Cowichan Valley

The Cowichan Valley Regional Transit System opened a new transit operations and maintenance facility.

The new 4.5-acre site, located at 5271 Boal Road in Duncan, B.C., will accommodate a fleet of up to 50 buses that support local conventional and handyDART services, as well as the Cowichan Valley commuter routes, which provide service to Victoria, B.C.

The facility is part of the larger Cowichan Valley Transit Future Plan that aims to make transit a reliable alternative to personal vehicles to reduce the community’s impact on the environment and to improve transit efficiency.

The new site includes an administrative/maintenance building, three maintenance bays, parts storage and shipping/receiving areas. A separate service island and an outdoor covered storage area are also on site. The building was designed with future expansion in mind, allowing for the addition of a fourth bay and a second story administration area should they be required.

The sustainable building design will support greenhouse gas reduction targets and other operational efficiencies, according to BC Transit. Additionally, the building has been constructed with the ability to accommodate compressed natural gas buses in the future.

This C$16.2-million (US$11.485 million) project was first announced in 2016 as part of the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund (PTIF), from which approximately 83 percent of construction costs were provided by the Canadian federal Government and the province of B.C. The remaining construction costs were covered by the Cowichan Valley Regional District, while land and other costs not eligible for PTIF funding were shared by the province of B.C. and the Cowichan Valley Regional District.