Abstract Manager

The Capital Regional District (CRD) represents thirteen municipalities and three electoral areas on Vancouver Island. A strategic priority of the CRD Board was to consolidate its regional transportation planning with its regional trails while expanding its scope of responsibility to deliver more sustainable mobility and safety outcomes consistent with its Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) goals.

This presentation will describe the multi-year journey taken by the CRD to establish a new Regional Transportation Service (RTS) comprised of eight categories – active transportation and road safety; new mobility; behaviour change; transit and mobility hubs; grants and funding; multi-modal network and connectivity; data management and analysis; and transportation plans.

Through various engagements and touchpoints with senior staff and elected officials of the municipalities and electoral areas, the CRD reflected the critical themes desired in establishing the service. Engaging in exploring various governance and operating models created stepwise pathways for the CRD Board to scale up its opportunity to better achieve its regional mobility goals.  Consolidating its current transport planning and trail responsibilities and introducing new RTS programs and functions required a thoughtful business case for the CRD Board to approve a maximum requistion of $20 million per year.

Inclusive of a new capital funding program that could leverage up to $80 million per year, the CRD is positioned to support advancing regionally significant projects with its member local governments that improve regional connectivity and people moving capacity across municipal boundaries. With the opportunity to commence implementation of the RTS in the second half of 2025, the CRD plans on updating its RTP, continuing its engagement with local government, BC Transit, Ministry of Transportation and Transit, BC Ferries, Victoria Airport Authority, Island Health, as well as the region’s residents and businesses, thereby significantly enhancing regional connectivity.