Wednesday: The good, the bad, the ugly on day 3.
As many of you know, I accepted the challenge put forward to Councillors to take transit this week as our primary means of getting where we need to go. This week is a particularly hectic week as the 2019 city budget was tabled today. Having said that, I gladly accepted the challenge.
This week my goal on the bus is to understand the challenges that our community faces day in and day out. Although admittedly my few days on the bus are hardly enough to fully appreciate the day to day that transit users experience, here are my early observations:
- The bus is uncomfortably crowded. There is nothing humane about standing for 40 minutes or more on a packed bus. We need to fix this issue on routes where this has become “the norm”. I believe we can do better.
- We need more predictability in when buses will arrive. It seems that the biggest issue is coming back to Kanata in the evening. I’ve heard this many times in the last number of months. Now I get to experience it personally.
- We need to look at more direct routes or express service for some routes out of Kanata North.
With just a few days of busing under my belt, I understand I have only a small appreciation for the challenges. My commute is pretty direct and has been at peak times. The challenges of getting around our community in off peak hours have been well communicated to me, although I have yet to experience it personally.
If you see me on the bus, please let me know your thoughts on transit in our community. I will also be sharing a survey shortly to collect your feedback and will have a community meeting planned later this month to discuss this together.