Osoyoos high school students will be able to ride buses free of charge for a couple of days as part of a partnership program between the Town of Osoyoos and the BC Transit service.

The town administers to the operating agreement for the South Okanagan Transit System on behalf of BC Transit and town council agreed Monday to approve a request from BC Transit to get involved in its GradPass program. The program allows graduating high school students to ride the bus, free of charge, for any two consecutive days of their choice in June.

This program is designed to promote transit as a safe means of transportation and help students understand their options for safe rides home, said Barry Romanko, the town’s chief administrative officer, during a presentation to town council on Monday.

Although the Osoyoos system does not run at night or strictly within town limits, this promotion may help in promoting the use of public transit to high school students when they move to larger centres to continue their education, he said.

This may also promote the use of the local transit system to students who will be taking classes at Okanagan College in Penticton if their class schedule works with the local bus schedule. Now that council has approved the partnership program, BC Transit marketing staff will work with the local school board and South Okanagan Transit Society to distribute information.

Coun. Michael Ryan said this is a good program that will encourage young people to consider using public transit on a regular basis.

Coun. Sue McKortoff said she hopes BC Transit tracks how many students use the service in June to determine if there’s sufficient incentive to consider expanding the service in the future.

In recent years, communities such as Cranbrook, Kelowna, Prince George, Nanaimo and Whistler have joined the program

Sun Bowl Arena will be open for Family Day skating

Local families will be able to spend B.C.’s Family Day together in Osoyoos as public skating is being offered at the Sun Bowl Arena the afternoon of February 10. This is only the second year that Family Day has become a statutory holiday in this province and offering public skating to bring family members together is a great idea that hopefully a lot of local families will take advantage of, said Coun. Sue McKortoff.

“We are going to be offering skating and snacks at the Sun Bowl Arena,” she said. “Please choose something healthy and fun and enjoy being with your family on this special day.”

The times for public skating have been set for 12 – 2 p.m. during which time the Osoyoos Coyotes will also be participating.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times