Changes coming to city transit in March

The Sault's Transit Services Division will help its riders adjust to changes in its schedule which go into effect March 13.

City transit plans to shift some of its existing funding away from the last bus at night (which is experiencing low ridership) to the increased need for specialized transit, such as the Parabus, without affecting the department's overall budget.

As of March 13, the last half-hour bus will leave the terminal at 6:15 p.m. (rather than 6:45 p.m.), and the last bus will leave the terminal at 11:15 p.m. (rather than 11:45 p.m.)

On Saturdays and Sundays, the first departure from the terminal will be at 6:15 a.m. (rather than 5:45 a.m.)

That has some riders who have to be at work early in the morning, and others who leave work late at night, feeling frustrated with city transit and wondering if they will have to take cabs to or from work and/or grab rides from co-workers.

"If somebody has problems going from work to get home we're going to work with them to the end of April to help with the transition," said Don Scott, city transit and parking manager, speaking to SooToday Friday.

A report from Scott to city council in January said city transit will work to accommodate people affected by the change on a "case by case basis."

"During that period of time (between now and April), which is seven weeks, they can look into alternative (transportation), talk to their employers about flex time, but we had to make a decision to service the increased demand for specialized transit," Scott told SooToday.

After April, it's up to them as to how they get home from work, Scott said.

Surveys conducted by transit staff in June, November and January showed an average of 32 passengers (out of the daily average of 5,186 passengers) taking the bus which departs from the terminal at 11:45 p.m., with an average of six to nine of them relying on the last bus out of the terminal to take them home from work.

"There will still be late night service, and there will still be some people that are going to be impacted, but unfortunately with public transit there's always going to be somebody affected by the change and that's the nature of the business," Scott said.

Scott's January report to council emphasized the growing need within the community for more access to specialized transit, such as the Parabus and funded taxi rides for dialysis patients. 

There were 1,725 registered passengers for the Parabus in December 2015, with approximately 50,000 trips in 2014.

Funded taxi rides for dialysis patients increased from approximately 1,400 trips in 2003 to 12,737 in 2014.

"Everybody thinks we're just blatantly doing this (to those who rely on the last bus at night) but we're not," Scott said.

"Funding is down (for specialized transit) and we need to address the needs of specialized transit, people with wheelchairs, people who are unable to ride conventional transit."

"We were waiting for the Moving Ontario Forward program, which is a $30 billion provincial initiative, to see if there would be any funding in that for specialized transit, but it turned out all that money was for roads and bridges," Scott said.