A complimentary shuttle service to Centennial Beach and Boundary Bay Regional Park is set to conclude Labour Day Weekend, but could be extended.
The shuttle, which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends from the South Delta recreation centre, was launched back in July by Metro Vancouver to relieve traffic congestion around the park. It will conclude on Sept. 7, but according to Metro officials, the schedule is flexible if favourable beach weather extends later into the month.
“It really is weather dependent. Right now we are aiming for Labour Day weekend to kind of being the last shuttle run,” said Steve Schaffrick, Division Manager, Parks Central Area, Regional Parks and Environment for Metro Vancouver. “The thing that would apply post-Labour Day is there a chance we could get some good weather, and with COVID-19 all-bets are off on how people are using the parks. There is a chance, say the weekend after, we may run the shuttle.”
Schaffrick said early analysis since the July launch indicates the shuttle is far more utilized on Sundays. He pointed to the Aug. 15th weekend near record temperatures when just eight people used the shuttle on Saturday compared to 140 on Sunday.
“Sundays have been busier and Saturdays have been quite quiet, which typically is the trend of the park too,” he said. “Sunday or a stat holiday tend to be busy days.”
Park and beach usage during summer weekends has been on the uptick in recent years, but there is no actual capacity, where people could be turned away, even with proper social distancing requirements during COVID-19.
“For Centennial we don’t have a park capacity and actually none of our parks do,” said Schaffrick. ”When you think about Boundary Bay there is a long trail system and there is multiple entry points coming into Boundary Bay. We actually encourage people to ride bikes or walk into the park rather than bring in a car. Then you think ‘are we stopping people from doing that?’
“Centennial actually has a lot of real estate in terms of space. I know there has been comments and perceptions that it is a very over crowded beach. Our staff observations and the pictures that we take on those busy days doesn’t really align with that. White Pine Beach (Belcarra Regional Park) definitely can be a problem and we have taken some measures up there. Centennial is different in that there is so much space there when you look at kind of north into the dune area too.”
As for the shuttle, there’s a good chance it will continue in 2021 and beyond with perhaps some fine tuning with the schedule.
“The shuttle, new traffic management in the park and working with the city of Delta has really helped reduce that traffic impact into the surrounding neighbourhood,” added Schaffrick.
