Transit: This Is No Way To Bus

So, this is the new way to bus.

Imagine being charged twice for a ride because OC Transpo made such an mess of the service that your commute takes nearly two hours on a good day. Throw in the ongoing road construction and development throughout this city and that commute could actually be longer. One way. Like adding three to four hours to your day just commuting?

According to one transit rider on paper his trip takes roughly 90 minutes but in reality it’s closer to two hours. He labels his feelings as “demoralizing” .. “frustrating” .. and “makes him reconsider transit” … On at least three occasions his transfer had expired and he needed to pay a second $4 fare. Clearly transfers aren’t working and transit users are footing the bill for this new failed experiment.

OC Transpo does acknowledge that some customers pay twice for the same trip and can request a refund. However those refunds are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and some may take longer “depending on the complexity of the investigation.” Seven weeks later, this rider is still waiting for his refund. That must be some complex investigation.

Another transit rider has fond long-ago memories of his commute taking just 45 minutes pre-LRT. It jumped to one hour and 20 minutes pre -A New Way to Bus and now his commute takes nearly two hours leaving his transfer invalid.

Fair? Not likely. He is, however, welcome to apply for a refund. Having given up on OC Transpo, said rider has purchased a second car preferring instead to take his chances using a park-and-ride lot thereby cutting off one leg of his commute.

There are transit riders who purposefully purchased their home near a bus stop only to find out they are no further ahead than those who didn’t.

Imagine your child waiting to be picked up at daycare. Instead of a 5 pm pick-up, your child is still waiting at 6:30. Does anyone care?

Imagine how your family life suffers because important people at Ottawa City Hall just don’t care how long it takes you to commute. They just don’t care that between two and four hours of your day is spent sitting on a bus or a train. They don’t care and it shows. It seems that the only adults who do care are those waiting for buses, the parents doing the pick-up and, the caregiver waiting to go home.

Barrhaven West Councillor David Hill does agree that transit riders should not be dinged twice for a trip and Hill does believe that bus route changes shouldn’t automatically mean poor services. Local buses replaced by express bus routes could work if the buses were reliable. And therein lies yet another problem with OC Transpo. Reliability. However, Hill has confidence that when OC Transpo staff review the problem, common sense will prevail.

Hill may be the only one with that level of confidence.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe made such a big stink about government workers returning to the office to support downtown businesses and, especially, OC Transpo coffers. How’s that working for Sutcliffe? Downtown streets are clogged with construction trucks, buses, delivery trucks, vans, cars, taxis, etc., spewing unimaginable amounts of pollution into the air.

Climate change? Doesn’t matter.

On the one hand, Sutcliffe wanted people downtown without having given much thought of the current long transit commutes. He forgot what his demand did to those families who had already worked out a harmonious home schedule and found a system that worked for them and their employer.

Now what do we do?

Donna Mulvihill is a community activist and former hospital coordinator

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