Two years after Victoria council voted to lower speed limits on some area roads, BC Transit wants the city to reverse its decision because it says bus service is hurting.

In 2014, council unanimously voted to drop the limit to from 50 to 40 km/h against the recommendation of city staff.

The change affected major routes in the city’s downtown core, including Quadra Street, Bay Street, Douglas Street and Gorge Road.

But BC Transit says the slower pace has negatively impacted service on those routes, meaning buses are often late by as much as four minutes.

That has led to about 30 bus trips a day being axed from the schedule, says senior BC Transit planner James Wadsworth. That's why the company has sent a letter to council asking it to restore the 50 km/h limit on major routes like Quadra and Bay streets.

“Over the last year, transit travel times have slowed significantly in the region,” said Wadsworth. “As the new schedules roll out, [customers] will find that there’s missing gaps where they can’t make the connections they once did because we’re not able to offer the same service levels.”

CTV News spoke with several regular bus riders Thursday who said just a few minutes can make a big difference in their day – and they’ve noticed a chance with the reduced speed limits.

“More people, more people waiting, more people on the bus and less people getting to the destinations that they need to get to as fast as they need to get there,” said Lucy Heaney.

Mayor Lisa Helps said council is waiting for more information from BC Transit before it makes a decision.

“We do things, we learn things and then we do different things,” she said of reconsidering council’s 2014 decision. “If the data is there that shows that reducing speed limits is slowing down rapid transit then yeah, I think it’s important to change that decision for sure, because we have more information,” she said.

The 2014 decision was made out of safety concerns for pedestrians and cyclists.

Helps said she will ask transit staff to make a presentation at a future meeting.