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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city's decision to shut down bus service to the hospital in the summer wasn't right and it's about time the situation is rectified, according to Yellowknife resident Robin Saftner.

Yellowknife resident Robin Saftner says he wants the city to restore bus service to the hospital during the summer. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

"They think in the summer that everybody can walk? No, a lot of people can't walk," Saftner said. "If I'm in a cast, what am I supposed to do? Hoop it across the highway on crutches?"

The city ended summer bus service to the hospital four years ago, after it noticed few people were using it, said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

However, in a 2012 transit survey, 70 per cent of cent of respondents chose year-round service to the hospital as the number one improvement they would like to see done to transit. Next was improved "on time" reliability and service to the airport.

As a result, the city is looking into making those changes once they decide if Cardinal Coach Lines will continue to provide the city's transit service or if the job will be given to another company. The contract is up for renewal this fall.

"All of the prioritized things that were raised during that survey are put into the request for proposal to see if it is something that can be added to the service," Van Tighem said. "It has to be something that is affordable as well as something that's convenient and how does it affect other things? Like, right now there is one block that's shut down and it changes the whole bus route and schedule. Buses are sensitive things, you know."

Currently, anyone taking the bus to the hospital in the summer has to get off near Wal-Mart, walk up Borden Drive, cross Old Airport Road and the strip mall parking lot and take a long wooden walkway to the building.

Passengers can also get off across the street from Village Reddi-Mart and walk up Byrne Road.

The extra distance may not seem like a big deal to some, Saftner said, but it can be difficult for someone who suffers from a disease or injury. Saftner, who has pancreatitis, and his wife, Tina Little, who has emphysema, take the bus to the hospital two or three times a month. For both of them the trek is taxing.

"By the time I get up there my heart's racing from walking ... Then my wife, she's on oxygen. Now I've got to walk her across the highway," Saftner said, adding they can't afford taxi fare. "That's not right ... Wake up and smell the coffee. The hospital is more important than the Co-op or the Wal-Mart."

City councillor Paul Falvo said he believes the city should rethink not just the stop at the hospital, but the entire transit system.

"It takes a long time to get from anywhere to anywhere because the bus is trying to cover every part of the city, including parts where people aren't using it much," Falvo said. "I think ultimately the problem is ... transit isn't really a part of our culture here and we are trying to do it with a New York city big bus model and really what I think is needed is something more flexible."

Falvo suggests the city look into creating a transit system similar to the Dial-a-Bus service in St. Albert, Alta., which provides as-needed transit service to citizens along with regular transit service. Riders can hop on the bus at certain times and locations and let the driver know where they want to go. The driver will then take them there along the most direct route. To get picked up, citizens can call the driver who will meet them at the nearest stop and take them where they want to go.

"There are definitely improvements that could be made (to Yellowknife's transit)," Falvo said. "I'm looking at the route now and there are some corners that could be cut, literally."

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