Transit woes: ‘Finally I just walked home’

By Letter to the Editor on September 16, 2017.

I’m writing about the changes to the transit system from my own experience that happened to me. I wish and hope that the Medicine Hat city council will reconsider this decision they have made to corrupt something that was never broken in the first place.

Sept. 8 was my first time taking the new route and I had a terrible experience. I have two children under 5 years old and I was waiting at the mall to take a bus home to Kingsway. I was told there was no more Dunmore Road bus and I had to wait for a bus to come to then transfer me to the bus stop in front of KFC and wait for another bus to come to take me to Kingsway. The driver didn’t even know how far it could take me down Kingsway.

I then waited another 20 minutes before the bus finally came.

An elderly lady was getting off of that bus and was very confused as to what to do next. The driver told her the bus she needed to take ended at 6 p.m. She then got off the bus with her walker in hand, looking like she was about to cry and said she would just walk home. With her walker.

Another lady, new to Medicine Hat, got on this bus, going to the college and she also looked very distressed. We proceeded to get on this bus and the driver took us to the stop in front of KFC. Myself, a senior lady carrying groceries and this new lady that just moved to Medicine Hat were waiting there for what seemed like forever until finally I just walked home to Kingsway with my two children in tow because they were tired and restless and I don’t even recall seeing that bus go by me as I walked home.

Needless to say as a mother of two and a non-driver with not a lot of money to spend on cabfare I am very upset and stressed out by this new change. Did Medicine Hat Transit even bother to think about how the mentally disabled are going to figure out their new routes? How about the elderly? Especially the elderly with reduced mobility? What is everyone going to do in the wintertime when there are no bus shelters to hide in from the bitter cold? How about young teenagers just learning to take the bus?

There is no bus service to Tower Estates on weekends or Riverside or the Flats? What are those people supposed to do when they need to get home?

Also I think that since there are only two main routes and the other buses only run until 6 p.m. that our bus fare should be cut in half as well. The bus is only going to take you halfway to where you need to go, so why should we pay full price?

I do hope the city will reconsider. This world is complicated enough.

Tianda Shimonko

Medicine Hat