Responding to the recent reports on the workings of BC Transit, I desire to add my comments based on my past 10 years of exclusive usage of this important transportation mode.
To expect the ridership to increase in the present format is a dream not to reach fruition in the near future, due to the callousness of the service offered. The present BC Transit ridership is based mostly on persons not owning a car or people having some physical disabilities.
Some of the ills of this service could be listed as:
In pouring rain, snow or sunshine, one has to keep standing while waiting for the bus to arrive (as most bus stops have no covered roof), which sometimes lasts more than half an hour, due to some buses missing a trip or some of these passing by more than five minutes earlier than the normal arrival time.
Worst of all, you have no way to know if the bus is due any time or has already left.
There are many buses plying the most busy routes like Bourquin to downtown and back, and Bourquin to South Fraser Way and Clearbrook. On the Downtown route, Bus 2, 3 and 31 travel within a time span of five minutes or less of each other. Similar is the time gap for Bus 1 and 2 on South Fraser Way corridor.
Sometimes a ludicrous situation is observed when these buses follow one behind the other.
The bus schedules on these routes could conveniently be planned to run at an interval of 15 to 20 minutes duration, to enable more available options for the bus travellers.
Bus 3 on the George Ferguson way and 1 and 2 on South Fraser Way run parallel to each other, and a traveller from one route to other has no link-up. This results in lot of wasted time on each corridor for getting connected to the other side.
It would be very convenient and time-saving if these two routes could be linked in some way, like running these buses in a loop, so that no change-over is required.
I hope the above listed suggestions are taken in a constructive mode and BC Transit sees an improvement in its delivery, and public convenience and comfort.
Dr. Ram Kaw
Abbotsford