Northern Health Bus Service returns to standard passenger eligibility

Starting on Monday, July 5th  Northern Health Connections will be returning to pre-pandemic passenger availability.

Passengers eligible to use the bus service includes the following:

• Those traveling for non-urgent medical procedures, including for
  appointments such as chiropractors and massage therapists – appointment
  verification continues to be required
• Discharges (by health authority hospital staff) – appointment verification not
  required
• Medically-necessary companions
• Staff & Physicians (including health care students), who are travelling for work
• Seniors (60+) – appointment verification not required

The service will return to standard seating, but will keep the following changes made during the pandemic:

• All travel must now be booked at least 24 hours in advance. Passenger
  manifests are required for safety and contact tracing purposes. NHC will not
  accept any walk-on passengers.
• Pre-booked assigned seating will be required (similar to air travel).
• People will be screened for COVID-19-like symptoms both when booking, and
  prior boarding; anyone with symptoms will not be allowed to travel.
• Enhanced COVID cleaning and infection control measures will be ongoing.
•  Passenger partitions will remain in place (for the immediate future – to be
  assessed).

These changes are being made tentatively, and are contingent upon moving into Step 3 of BC’s Restart Plan, which is expected to happen on Thursday at the earliest.