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BC Transit’s top brass retreats in Nelson

BC Transit’s top executives and its seven-member board of directors are in Nelson today for a retreat and strategic planning session.
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BC Transit president and CEO Manuel Achadinha speaks in Nelson.

BC Transit’s top executives and its seven-member board of directors are in Nelson today for a two-day retreat and strategic planning session.

Making the trip from Transit’s head office in Victoria, president and CEO Manuel Achadinha said in a press release he’s looking forward to introducing his colleagues to members of the recently formed West Kootenay Transit Committee.

“This is a great opportunity to meet with our local government partners and congratulate them on their leadership in forming the West Kootenay Transit Committee and to learn what lies ahead for transit in the region,” he said.

The WKTC consists of local government leaders who are working to integrate transit service between Nelson, Trail, Castlegar, Kaslo, Nakusp and the Slocan Valley.

“Our aim is to make a trip on a regional transit bus seamless for the rider,” explained Nelson acting-mayor Paula Kiss. “We can do this by working together.”

This regional partnership is what prompted BC Transit to hold its planning session in Nelson, as well as the fact that the West Kootenay represents an area for potential growth in transit ridership.

Last year, Castlegar had the largest year-over-year ridership increase of any city in the BC Transit System, with a 61 per cent increase in trips in 2011/12 compared with 2010/11.