SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Recent efforts by the city and Ecology North's transportation issues committee to reach out to residents for feedback on the transit system have gone largely unnoticed.
One-year-old Colin Mahon came with mom Margaret Mahon to the public meeting on city transit at city hall on Saturday. Mahon was the only Yellowknife resident to show up on that day and share her opinions on the bus system. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo
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Two public meetings were held on the topic last week with less than a dozen people taking part. Session leaders also met with seniors as well as youth and there are plans to solicit bus drivers' opinions. But with only about 50 people voicing their concerns it is hardly a representative sample of the population.
In the future, the transportation issues committee might consider going to the people instead of having the people come to them, said committee member Tasha Stephenson, adding she wants to hear more from residents who don't ride the bus.
"We're hoping to get good grassroots input on improving the system, primarily to encourage people to leave their cars parked and take the bus," Stephenson said.
Todd Sasaki, communications consultant, was one of the people tasked with running the sessions. When all the information is gathered, TAIT communications, his employer, will prepare a report for the city and the committee. So far, Sasaki said, the feedback from the sessions has been fairly aligned.
"People in general have been, you know are thankful they have bus service but they also have some concerns that they've shared with us as well as some possible suggestions."
Some of those suggestions included a desire to be able to access transit information on smartphones and changes to the length of routes.
Meanwhile, Stephenson identified a few other issues with the transit system that had previously been brought to the committee. A big one is that there is no service to Niven Lake. There is also issues of unreliability, not enough route options and lack of communication, Stephenson added.
For instance, more direction was needed when Northland Trailer Park was under construction and the bus drivers had to alter their route through the area. A sign should have been made to tell residents how long the stop was out of commission and point them to the next closest pick-up point. Instead, someone just threw a garbage bag over the bus stop sign, she said. Confused about what it meant, people would just stand there waiting.
Additionally, Stephenson said, sometimes bus drivers will skip stops because they're running late.
Margaret Mahon, the only resident to attend the meeting on April 13, echoed Stephenson's comments. It will be -30 C out and bus drivers will pass people who are waiting to be picked up, she said, explaining they should stop or there should be a backup plan to assist those who are left behind.
There could also be better co-ordination for service to special events and the schedules should be advertised more, Mahon continued, recognizing in that situation it's usually the event organizer's responsibility.
"Let people know what's going on," she said.
