We urge all transit riders to submit a transit survey after they have compared their existing routes and schedules with the new routes and schedules to be launched on Aug. 23.
The survey and the new schedules are available online at www.reddeer.ca/cityinmotion.
Printed surveys are available at Sorensen Station. We have compared morning service from Lancaster Drive and 30th Avenue to the hospital, and also from the South Hill to Superstore and from the South Hill to Deer Park Co-op.
All three comparisons showed that the new service will be totally unsatisfactory due to significantly longer travel times and waits up to 23 minutes at hubs to transfer to another bus.
Consequently, we have sent emails to the mayor and city councillors to urge them to call a special council meeting to pass a motion to delay implementation of the new transit service until the COVID-19 pandemic is over and the existing service has operated for a few months on the pre-pandemic schedule, which had service every half hour.
A major problem with the new service is that the buses do not all leave the hubs at the same time. Thus, when you arrive at a hub, the bus you want may have left a few minutes earlier.
If the Gaetz Avenue Rapid Bus and the three core buses run every 15 minutes instead of every 30 minutes, the wait time at a hub would be reduced.
However, we are uncertain if, even then, there would be any improvement to the present service. The new routes definitely do not function well unless the core buses run every 15 minutes all day.
Perhaps you will find that the new service is better for you. Whatever your comparisons show, every rider should submit a survey so that the transit department has sufficient feedback to know whether or not the new service is better for the majority of riders.
Jim and Roberta Saltvold, Red Deer