Good morning, Westshore.
Today we remember Aidan Goulding, sort out the Colwood Crawl projects, and flag a school deadline coming tomorrow.
The Westshore team
This editionColwood · Thursday edition
Will more buses actually ease the Colwood Crawl?
More seats, bus lanes and a possible train: what changes for riders and drivers.
Here's what we got for you today
IN REMEMBRANCE
Aidan Goulding, by headlamp in the driveway
Pte. Aidan Goulding (Canadian Armed Forces, media handout)
The Royal Bay graduate died at 23. His family remembers the restless, car-loving young man behind the uniform.
Straight A's earned Aidan Goulding a used Chrysler 300c with a Hemi engine. His first modification was to make it louder.
His family remembers him working on that car by headlamp at the bottom of the driveway, sometimes until the neighbours objected.
Soccer was his first passion. He played for Juan de Fuca and stayed with Royal Bay's Soccer Academy through graduation. His family's obituary also recalls rooftop parkour and adventures with his brother Wylder.
After Dunsmuir and Royal Bay, he studied automotive service at Camosun before pursuing his dream of joining the Canadian Armed Forces.
He died in the Oct. 17 fire at CFB Wainwright in Alberta. Yesterday, a motorcade escorted his remains from Vancouver airport to a New Westminster funeral home, the Goldstream Gazette reports.
His funeral is Sunday, Nov. 8, at 11am at Seaforth Armoury, 1650 Burrard Street, Vancouver.
Sources · Kearney Funeral Services · family obituary · Goldstream News Gazette
GETTING AROUND
More buses are only part of the answer
More seats help riders. Getting buses past the traffic takes a different kind of project.
More buses can carry more people. They do not, by themselves, give those buses a way around traffic. That is where the dedicated lanes come in.
New buses: rollout began in March. Of the 39 double-deckers BC Transit announced, 29 replace older buses. Ten expand the fleet. Each seats 80, with room for 24 more standing. Busy routes such as the 95 are meant to benefit.
Bus lanes: due late fall 2027. The Highway 1 project between the McKenzie and Colwood interchanges is intended to give buses a faster, more reliable trip. Together with other improvements, it would complete a continuous corridor of transit-only lanes from downtown Victoria to the Colwood exchange. It also upgrades stops at Helmcken.
Rail: no opening date. Passenger service between Langford and Vic West is still being studied. Funding a study is not a decision to build a railway or start running trains.
So, will it ease the Crawl? For bus riders, the plans offer more room and a route past some of the congestion. For drivers, the benefit depends on enough people choosing transit. Neither the fleet announcement nor the bus-lane announcement estimates how many minutes a car commuter might save. The added highway space is for buses, not another general-traffic lane.
Read our full explainer for the project timelines and where Westshore residents actually commute.
Sources · The Westshore · full explainer · BC Transit · March fleet announcement · Province of B.C. · bus-lane construction
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Before you leave the house
Today, Nov. 5, 7am to 7pm · Between Metchosin Road and the Producers Way roundabout. A concrete pour closes this stretch. Use another route and follow the posted signs.
Tonight, Nov. 5, 4:30 to 7pm · Langford Legion 91, 761 Station Avenue. The Poppy Campaign Drive Thru features The Upside's Ed Bain and Jeff King.
Wednesday, Nov. 11, approximately 10:45am · Cenotaph outside the Juan de Fuca arena, 1767 Island Highway. The 7th Juan de Fuca Scouts' ceremony includes silence at 11am.
Friday, Nov. 6, 4pm · The review includes which secondary schools students in parts of the Crystal View and Willway catchments would attend, five elementary school boundaries, and the new Langford secondary planned for 2030. No changes have been decided. Read which schools are included and take the survey through the district's page.
A LITTLE WARMTH
Dry socks, gloves and a reason to stop
Nurse Nguyen and Cpl. Justine Dancey with winter warming kits (West Shore RCMP)
West Shore RCMP officers and Island Health nurses are carrying winter kits for people experiencing homelessness.
Rain ponchos, shower wipes, toothbrushes, socks, gloves, hand warmers and granola bars: each kit offers things someone can use right away.
Cpl. Justine Dancey and the nurses working with West Shore RCMP's Mental Health Unit developed them. The unit pairs officers with registered nurses to respond to mental health calls.
Team members carry the kits, and other frontline officers can get them to hand out during their shifts.
“By providing these basic necessities, we can open a door to conversation and connection,” Dancey said in the detachment's Nov. 2 announcement.
Sources · West Shore RCMP
Know a Westshore group collecting winter essentials, or a place people can get them? Reply with the group's name and a link to its public notice. We'll check the details for a future issue. See you Tuesday.
The Westshore team
The Westshore is produced on the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples (the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations) and the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, whose relationship with this land continues to this day.
Something wrong in this story? Tell us at hello@news.thewestshore.ca. We fix it, log it, and say so in the next edition.
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