Finding fault with transit changes
By Letter to the Editor on August 24, 2017.
Finally the city has got something right — having transit start earlier in the morning. The hope of increasing ridership is, to say the least, somewhat dashed as they have drastically reduced the routes into residential areas some by more than 50 per cent. This is where ridership comes from. The city is going to save some $650,000 from this new system while both the federal and provincial government are promoting public transit, our mayor says he will take the money provided but use it elsewhere. This whole change was done without any public input, so just how much has this cost taxpayers in the recent past — for example, making a complete road change outside Medalta Potteries to put in a bus stop with shelter? Riders are now expected to walk from eight to 14 blocks to ride the bus and the reverse to go home using bus stops that have no shelters and untreated roads in the winter. And while the city saves on changing the bus routes in residential areas, how much are they going to spend on the “white elephant” parking lot on First Street? It is obviously more important than than tax-paying transit users. This department has been mismanaged for years. Dave Marshall Medicine Hat 9-8
