Well, winter might not have been the best time for transit changes judging by the complaints on The Tri-City News' Facebook page.
Those who must rely on transit are understandably upset when routes they used to take to get to work, school, the West Coast Express and other places take longer than they used to or require more transfers.
Things were also made worse by snow and ice, which caused delays, sidewalks not shovelled, causing people to stumble, deep puddles of slush that wet people's feet and snow drifts at the side of the road that you need crampons and an ice pick to climb over once exiting the bus.
So yes, it's been awful to take transit lately and any good news about the opening of the Evergreen Extension has been somewhat overshadowed by other problems, with some people pointing out that not everyone wants to get to Vancouver and transit that focuses on getting people downtown doesn't always work for those trying to get around the Tri-Cities, especially students needing to get to school.
But these concerns must be tempered with the understanding that, as Mayor Mike Clay pointed out in a Facebook post, the bus system is not a taxi, and has to accommodate a large number of transit needs with limited resources. Therefore while some routes were short changed — the 160 which stops at the Kootenay Loop now — others are improved (finally, a bus to Burke Mountain) with the end goal being an efficient system that moves as many people as possible to their destination.
As well, it should be noted that transit changes made in December to tie in to Evergreen did not add any additional bus service to the Tri-Cities but tried to make the most of what was already available by freeing up service made redundant by rapid transit.
Judging by the comments, there are some winners and losers in the system and hopefully the release of funds through the recently approved Mayor's plan will free up resources for changes.
But we know people have limited appetite for large scale transit expansion if they have to pay more in sales tax. Don't forget, the 2015 transit referendum was killed by a clear, 61.7% majority, a telling statistic, reminding us that in the end we get the transit for which we are willing to pay.
