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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - City councillors are pressuring city administration to make bus tickets more available downtown after Sutherland's Drugs stopped selling them.

Nars Dapilos, an employee at the downtown Reddi-Mart, displays bus passes and tickets. He said his manager had to go to city hall to pick up the passes when they should have been delivered. - April Robinson/NNSL photo

"It seems to me we should go out of our way to provide them with what they need," said Coun. Bob Brooks at a committee meeting Tuesday.

"Now we know there's a problem, let's come up with a solution."

Managers at Sutherland's, located at 50 Avenue and 50 Street, said they stopped selling the tickets in early February because of a lack of support from city staff. They frequently ran out of tickets, but when they would call city hall, they wouldn't get a response. They got tired of turning away frustrated customers.

At Tuesday's meeting, Coun. Paul Falvo asked public works director Dennis Kefalas if there were plans to restore Sutherland's as a supplier.

"I've talked to Sutherland's in the past and I'll talk to them again," said Kefalas. "I'm not sure if that bridge is burned or not."

He said the issue is not really a concern of public works. The finance department deals with distributing tickets and collecting money, he said.

Stephen Gwilliam, co-owner of Sutherland's, said Tuesday he hadn't been approached by the city.

"Not a word. Not even a hello," he said.

The store might consider selling the tickets again if the city came to them with a reasonable plan, he added.

The issue with Sutherland's has highlighted a bigger problem with bus ticket distribution, said Falvo.

The city should attract more ticket-sellers along the bus routes, and give them signs to put up in store windows, he said.

Spending an approximate $1 million subsidizing the bus system while losing ridership is not an option, said Coun. Dave McCann.

"We should be looking at bringing more (riders) on."

The public works department is working on approaching more vendors along the bus routes, Kefalas said in an interview Wednesday.

By September, vendors will be given 200 bus passes to sell per month, up from 150.

He said turnover in the finance department is to blame for the broken process.

"There's always a bit of hiccups when someone's new to the position," he said.

The department is working on setting up backup contacts for bus ticket providers to cover for people who are busy or on holidays, he said.

Brooks said he doesn't think city staff were taking the issue seriously until now.

"They definitely need to designate someone to the job," he said in an interview Wednesday.

Sutherland's was one of four retailers selling tickets in Yellowknife. Others included Reddi-Mart downtown, the Reddi-Mart on Old Airport Road and the Yellowknife Direct Co-op. Riders can also purchase the tickets at city hall.

At Tuesday's meeting, city staff said the Circle K Shell station on Range Lake Road is also now selling tickets.

"I guess we'll know soon whether we actually get a positive result on this," Falvo said in an interview Wednesday. "We want to make it easier for people - not harder."