Encourage use of Galeries and des Allumetières park-and-rides

STO continues tweaking the Aylmer network

The frustration of certain STO users continues to mount since the overhaul of the local Aylmer network. One sticking point is that 40s no longer stop at Rivermead, forcing users heading east in the morning to wait for a 59, which is often full.

“I went to Rivermead from 5:30 am to 9 am to observe,” said Pierre Benoit, Member and representative for regular public transit. “People in the morning waiting for a bus are frustrated because they see 40s go by at Rivermead that are not full. Before the overhaul, residents only had to wait three minutes before hopping on a bus and now they must wait about 10 minutes. The weather is nice now but, when winter comes around, users will be further frustrated if they see buses go by and they are unable to board.”

The STO announced on September 16 by way of press release that their team is still in a running-in period following the overhaul of the local bus system in Aylmer.

Since the STO launched the new service on August 29, their customer service department has received more than 120 “comments”. The subjects varied, but most were about overloaded buses, transfer times and on issues surrounding Route 59. The STO received seven comments about 40’s. Comments from social media are excluded from the count and the STO encourages users to send comments to the customer service department.

“No, the customer service department has not been flooded by complaints,” said Céline Gauthier, STO spokesperson.

Following the restructuring, the STO has made some changes and added two new trips for Route 59, one at 6:53 am and another at 7:25 am, and added articulated buses. Moreover, the STO will use an articulated bus at 6:50 am for Route 800.

The STO pointed out that such an overhaul has its challenges since it changes travel patterns among users and a period of adjustment is normal when such a new network is rolled out.

The public transit company added that it is aware that the changes are causing a headache for some users, but that their end-goal is to improve the quality of service throughout Aylmer and for the entire population. However, residents in the Connaught neighbourhood and near the Rivermead park-and-ride don’t see how their service could be improved.

“I know a meeting is scheduled between the STO and the Connaught residents in November. No, I’m not surprised they are discontented. Those residents warned us beforehand that their service would be reduced,” said Benoit.

However, the overhaul is not all bad, as Mr Benoit noted. “The use of the Galeries Aylmer and the Allumettières park-and-rides have increased, which was an objective. The 59 now starts from the Allumettières park-and-ride and fills up in the morning,” he told the Bulletin.

 

Rivermead’s expansion on hold

The reason the STO is encouraging users to use those park-and-rides is because the Connaught park-and-ride will eventually close. The STO does not know when it will close as they are renting the land from Bouladier
construction.

“The project to expand Rivermead park-and-ride was placed on hold. One reason behind the overhaul was that the board wanted to see what could be done with the local network. For the moment and for a number of reasons, the expansion is not on the table on the short term,” explained Antoine Courchesne-Normandin, STO Team Lead for Network Design.
(LRC)