›› Kelsey Singbeil

Whether you’re walking, cycling, skateboarding, bussing, or driving, Fernwood has most of your daily essentials (coffee, food, beer, childcare, haircuts, yoga, tattoos) within easy reach. I ride my bike or walk to the square to meet friends at the Inn, pick up groceries at Aubergine, and check out plays at the Belfry.

The village square is an easy jaunt from most areas and the compactness of the ­neighbourhood is one of its great appeals. It’s easy to leave the car at home.

But there’s more to transportation in Fernwood than just walking to the Cornerstone to get your daily cup of joe. Cyclists pass through the square on their way to work, buses deliver students to Victoria High School on Fernwood Road, and restaurant-goers madly try to find a parking space at 7:30pm on Gladstone Avenue.

How people get to work in Victoria

The neighbourhood is home to Fernwoodians, but also a destination or stop along the way home for residents across Victoria. How people move through and around Fernwood impacts its residents and visitors for the better—and sometimes for the worse.

For example, the village square is the preferred pass-through for many cyclists and walkers, but their intermingling can cause some awkward moments at sidewalk bottlenecks and crosswalks. And, when residents have to search for a parking spot along a street filled with ticketed cars in residential parking only spaces, it can put a damper on the neighbourhood spirit.

But, in general, Fernwoodians have a pretty easy time getting around. The ­neighborhood is more or less in the middle of Victoria, which means to head downtown, to the beach, or up to the University, it’s likely only a 10 to 15 minute bike ride, 30 minute walk, or short drive. And, if we respect those on foot and on bikes and look for the free parking lots and open parking spaces, getting around Fernwood will only become that much better.

To that end, your choice of transportation and route are critical. By car you can find yourself stymied by Fernwood’s many “no through” streets, while cyclists may end up playing hopscotch with busses along Fernwood Road or Haultain Avenue. Here are a few ideas and tips on when to strap on your bike helmet or pick up the car keys to navigate our fair streets and sidewalks.

Walking

1. Walking

Best choice for: A slow, leisurely ­journey when you have time to stop and smell the flowers and check out the free piles. ­Fernwood is relatively flat, so time, not energy, is the key factor here.

From here to there:

Here are some examples of standard ­walking times to different locations around Fernwood:

  • Shelbourne Street and Bay Street to Fernwood Square – 15 minutes
  • Fernwood Square to Douglas Street and Pandora Avenue – 30 minutes
  • Haultain Corners to Fernwood Square – 15 minutes
  • Fernwood Square to Quadra Village (Hillside and Quadra) – 25 minutes
Take a tour of the past (and present):

The Fernwood Community ­Association features a heritage walking tour of ­Fernwood at fernwoodvic.ca/tours.htm.

Bussing2. Bussing

Best choice for: When you don’t want to pay for parking downtown, at Victoria General Hospital (VGH), or at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt.

“Next stop, please”:

22 Hillside – VGH: The 22 is a cross-Victoria transit journey that hits two malls (Hillside and Tillicum) and four schools (Victoria High, ­Central, Colquitz, and Spectrum) before ­delivering you to VGH.

27 Majestic – Downtown or 28 Gordon Head – Downtown: The 27 and 28 are straight shooters for getting downtown or up to Mackenzie Avenue fairly fast. If you’re near Shelbourne or Pandora, you can catch one of these busses every 10 minutes or so throughout the day.

10 – Royal Jubilee – CFB Esquimalt (Dockyard): The 10 is a community bus, which means it’s small and not that frequent (every 20 or 30 minutes). But it keeps to the main through-roads and the full route takes less than a half hour.

14 VGH – UVic: The 14 is another cross-Victoria route with a double-decker bus that shuttles students up to UVic on a regular basis throughout the day. You’ll need to walk over to ­Richmond or up to Fort Street to catch this bus.

Driving3. Driving

Best choice for: Getting out of town and heading to the lake! Or, helping a friend move, then picking up a yard or two of manure for the veggie patch. If you’re just hanging out in the neighbourhood or heading to the village square, you’re better off walking or biking.

“I swear this road went through before”:

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, traffic calming efforts saw a number of streets closed to traffic in Fernwood:

  • Chambers Street does not run through from Pandora Avenue to Bay Street – you’ll have to turn east at Queens Avenue.
  • Pembroke Street does not run through across Fernwood Road and features speed bumps from Fernwood Road to Shelbourne Street.
  • Denman Street runs straight through from Fernwood Road to Shelbourne Street.
Can I park here?:

Public parking is available in the Victoria High School parking lots on Gladstone Avenue west of Fernwood Road after school hours.

“Residential Parking Only” signs mean just that—residents only. The parking patrol knows where you live, so if it’s not on that street, keep driving! Most streets in Fernwood have a range of public parking spaces.

Cycling4. Cycling

Best choice for: When there isn’t enough time to walk and arrive on time for ­dinner at a friend’s house, or you need to head downtown and don’t have change for parking. Also, during every single day in the summer, nothing beats summertime cycling.

Bike lane or a quiet street?:

Most of Fernwood’s major roads (Shelbourne Street, Pandora Avenue, Bay Street) now sport at least a couple hundred metres of white bike lanes, but you will need to share the road with buses and often-heavy traffic.

Fernwood’s quiet back roads offer more enjoyable, if slower, cycling routes. ­Pembroke Street between Cook Street and Shelbourne Street avoids the hills, while Gladstone Avenue – Chambers Street – Caledonia Avenue is a well-used cycle route to downtown by many Fernwoodians. You can also use Grant Street to cut through to North Park Village on Cook Street behind Victoria High School. Haultain Street is a great east-west connector and delivers you to cycling routes that lead up to the ­University of Victoria.

Skateboarding5. Skateboarding

Best choice for: When cycling just seems too complicated and walking is too boring. Most of Fernwood’s streets are well enough paved to make for a smooth(ish) ride.

Court time:

Most summer evenings the basketball court at the Fernwood Community ­Centre is home to an impromptu, hand-made skate park.