LETTER

STO schedule and route changes

 

When changes happen, it is usually to create a better system, but you can never please everybody. The new schedules are not very friendly to people living along the Lucerne
corridor, or in the Vanier/Deschenes area.

On a Saturday, for example, a 53 would leave Lucerne/Fraser at about 6:50, turn into a 59 at Rivermead, and go on to Ottawa. Under the new schedule, we now have to take a 52 at about 6:20, get off at Vanier/Aylmer and wait 30 minutes for a 59! (Thinking winter here.) Also, this now involves crossing a busy intersection to make the transfer to the 59. Would it not make sense to put a bus stop at Aylmer/Vanier Est, avoiding the elderly and the young crossing a busy intersection?

I take the 58 to Tunney's Pasture. It will be leaving Rivermead two minutes later on the new schedule. Only two minutes, no big deal! But it will now put in jeopardy the connections with OC Transpo for several regular 58 users!  We’ll now have to leave earlier. Slight inconvenience, but no big deal!

Finally, let's review Rivermead. Monday to Friday, people park there to mostly catch buses into Ottawa. They get on the first bus that comes, whether it be the 40's or a 59.  If the bus route was closer to their home, would they not get on it there?  I suggest to you that the majority of people who park at Rivermead do not live on a bus route, and will continue parking there, raising the question, what will happen when Hippodrome parking closes? People are already parking on the grass or parking in such a way to impede others from backing out of their spots at Rivermead; are there plans for expansion in the future to accommodate Hippodrome parkers?

I respectfully submit this to the STO as observation and constructive criticism. As they continue progress towards a better transit system, please think about these points.

Peter Brooksbank
(Chemin Fraser)