If you are still having difficulty choosing who to vote for this year and transit is an important issue to you, perhaps this post can help.
I attended the all-candidate meet and greet at the Lethbridge Senior Citizen Organization, and asked candidates for their ideas on how to increase transit ridership. Below are their responses.
Keep in mind that I missed 13 candidates (I ran out of time), and these are ideas, not promises. I list them in the order I talked to them.
- Liz Iwaskiw: UPass for students and a similar programme for seniors
- Bob Cooney: more routes, smaller buses, community routes, communicate with users, ask non-users what it would take to start taking transit
- Kay Adeniyi: Teleride, GPS-equipped buses, smartphone app
- Fiona Doherty: free transit, smaller routes, smaller buses
- Rory Tarant: redraw routes, extended hours, smart cards, more free days
- Ryan Parker: increase frequency
- Hazel Hart: free transit
- Rajko Dodic: convince people it’s more than an alternative
- Rod Hoeg: start earlier, end later, link Coaldale and industrial park, smaller busses on weekends
- Kevin Layton: more media coverage, discounted passes (e.g. annual)
- Kris Jones: alter routes, more community routes, bring back Dial-a-Bus
- Mel Fletcher: incentives at downtown events for transit users, get provincial/federal government to pay fares for those with disabilities
- Joyce van der Lee: analyze routes, express routes
- Jeff Coffman: increase frequency on arterials, smaller busses in some routes, more fuel-efficient busses, direct route between U of L and LC, address main routes and feeder routes will follow
- Lee Cutforth: shift empty busses from slow routes to heavy routes
- Lea Switzer: increase coverage of city, increase frequency, smaller buses
- Geri Hecker: education, encourage lifestyle change
- Dennis Carrier: express routes, education
- Margaret Simmons: increase frequency, education
- Joe Mauro: free transit in long-term, free Access-a-Ride, loonie per trip in short-term, increase frequency and coverage, eliminate bus stops (get on or off along the route wherever you want), smaller routes
- Jeff Carlson: free transit month
- Bev Lanz: students should be able to ride for free
- Bridget Mearns: research the issues and make transit more affordable to students, seniors, and those with disabilities
Update (16 October 2010): I visited with three more candidates at the Farmers’ Market today. Here were there responses:
- Blaine Hyggen: ride transit himself to get feedback from users
- Ken Tratch: better marketing, free for periods, conduct research on services, make Access-a-Ride fares more reasonable
- Tom Wickersham: UPass
See also: http://www.lethbridgeaccountability.ca/index.php?itemid=31
Back in July I was talking about transit and offer transportation issues (http://www.freyformayor.com/2010/07/transportation-in-lethbridge-some-ideas.html) — we also need to look at reduced rates for students. 15,000 post-secondary students in the City. Also lets talk something for individuals on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/ets/fares/aish-subsidized-transit-pass-p.aspx
Taking the bus to work has given me the opportunity to establish a rapport with some of the drivers. These folks tell me Lethbridge used to have 20 minute service and they have suggestions for how this can be implemented again. I know cost is an issue, but equally important is the convenience. If we want to promote lifestyle changes and increase ridership, it has to be both cost effective and convenient.
If u have free transit who pays for it? The buses and drivers do not come cheap!!!
Same people who pay for anything else that’s free, I suppose.
But if you have free transit then the taxpayer is going to have right to be mad!!!! Now I could see a free transit zone in the downtown 2 move people around like they have in Calgary
I would form an advisory committee that would include representatives of the various types of users. We would ask them to identify deficiencies and recommend strategies. Then Transit could experiment with the recommendations to determine impact and practicality.
Chris, there has already been user advisory committees, my husband was on one of them. So that’s already done, deficiencies and strategies have been discussed, much have been implemented and more will be in the future.
Yes. And I provided input from an Industrial Park perspective. There was little follow through and issues remain.
If I am elected, it will be fixed. I am a doer with a record of accomplishment in my work on the school board on other community service organizations.
Feel free to contact any of the organizations listed in my brochure and ask about my contribution to their success.
Yes, I know issues remain, but it is in process and Transit has shown interest in community input. So it take time, but I trust it will happen. I must say that transit has improved considerably since we moved here in 1998. So there has been progress and I have a lot of faith in the ideas that have been presented and seen that some recommendations have been noted and used, so more will in the future.