Once again the Mayor and city council have made the bus service a news item. In an attempt to show that Saturday service is not necessary, the facts have once again been misrepresented. Let me explain:
1. The Mayor neglected to acknowledge that the pandemic exists. Ridership is down because people choose to stay home to avoid Covid. It was an ill-advised time to start this experiment. Planned obsolescence is the goal to get rid of the bus service.
2. The Mayor stated that, “On average, ridership from January to May was about 146 per day.” That statement is ambiguous at best. Does the Mayor mean daily ridership, or is that the Saturday ridership?
3. The Mayor said, regarding dial-a-bus, the most one way trips booked for a Saturday is 11. He neglected to say that each one of those trips requires a return trip to be booked. The implication here is that, at most, 11 people booked the dial-a-bus. This is not accurate as one person may book the bus for a group of four or five to be at the appointed bus stop.
Several other topics of my concern (mostly through omission) are evident in the latest bus article that was published on Discover Moose Jaw.
4. Nothing denoted that it is a ‘handibus’ that is now being used for regular bus service on Saturdays. I, for one, am concerned that this affects the service to the disabled people that require the service provided by the ‘handibus.’
5. With only one dial-a-bus in service, is the driver being put under pressure to supply prompt service? Does the driver have to rush to get from one place to another? Is he/she subjected to any type of abuse because they may be late (due to inadequate scheduling) and riders are late because of it? Are the drivers supposed to ignore anyone who has not booked a ride but is waiting for the ‘telebus’ when it arrives?
6. Can you always get an answer when you call to book a ride, especially if you call on Saturday? Is the public aware that ‘telebus’ operates on reduced hours on Saturdays and you have to book in advance during the week to secure a lift, or before noon on Saturday? I prefer the certainty of the regular bus service on Saturdays.
It seems to be the goal of the Mayor and some of the councillors to get rid of the public transportation service. We must never lose sight of the fact that the municipal government received millions of dollars of support from the federal government for public transport. The purpose was to buy new buses and to lessen carbon emissions. Instead of encouraging the use of the buses, this council is making it much harder to make use of the service. The Mayor and this council also seem to have lost sight of the fact that taxes pay for services. Public transport is a right, not a privilege, because we pay taxes.
It makes me wonder: If one public service goes by the wayside, which [service] will the Mayor and council get rid of next?
-- Fran Millar
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
