Candidates must answer the transit riddle

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on September 14, 2017.

One month after new transit routes were unveiled and one week after they were redrawn, the issue is threatening to become quicksand ahead of a municipal election.

Seemingly simple on the surface, there appears to be depth to the controversy beyond bus stop locations. Whether the changes are good or bad, right or wrong, those who seek voters’ endorsement in five weeks will have to tread carefully.

Two mayoral campaigns are based on returning to a “public service mandate.” Questions abound about this bus stop or that route. The challenge has been issued to council members and administrators to take the bus for a solid week.

Elected officials have twice asked staffers to fix problems, giving them a mandate to cut into cost savings, to help citizens get to jobs, doctors appointments and, in general, around the community.

Forgetting logistics for a moment, the controversy appears to have deceptive depth and as a whole is interesting for several reasons.

First off, it marks the first significant pushback against the Financially Fit budget review, which Hatters have more or less accepted as a fact of life in an era of low gas and power income.

Secondly, the uproar is outsized considering the relatively low number of people who ride the bus. Many, perhaps even most, Hatters probably don’t see the changes as a problem, or may even support them. Most responses to a 2016 Financially Fit survey about service levels said they were most willing to accept cuts at the transit department.

For the record, it is early and administrators say a helpline to help specific riders with route changes is working. Four out of five callers are satisfied in the end, they say.

But the complaints rumble on.

Thirdly, it’s the first issue that has not been successfully message-controlled by City Hall or council since the last election.

Even a potentially explosive seniors’ centre issue appears resolved without fireworks reminiscent of an Event Centre or Esplanade debate.

Similarly, automated utility meters, photo radar, curbside recycling, and wage freezes are items that vex most municipal governments across Canada. In Medicine Hat, they’ve been filed under “handled.”

It could be that a raft of other frustrating issues have morphed into the current controversy.

The cuts have become a lightning rod despite being a seeming slam dunk according to the 2016 survey, which was actually a groundbreaking effort to include the public in cost-cutting decisions.

The end result, though, is apparently not so clearcut.

In hindsight, it’s easy to predict such a disconnect, or that most of the survey respondents wouldn’t rank transit very high among their priorities.

To be clear, most Hatters don’t need the bus to get where they are going. They hold a valid opinion that the Hat is not a major centre and doesn’t need to relieve congestion or move great numbers of people.

They don’t take the bus, but do pay taxes, so why wouldn’t they agree to chopping out weekend bus service?

The unasked question, however, is whether transit is an essential public service, and to how many?

Unfortunately, by its nature, a transit system must run on time and regularly to be effective. Good luck figuring out a cost-effective answer to that situation.

In Medicine Hat, half the population puts no value on something that 10 per cent of the population desperately needs.

This is the great question of needs and wants that’s often bandied about when taxes and government are debated, during an election, for example.

And those seeking a seat on council in the October election better have good answers.