The Editor:
I’ve ridden the transit system for more than 40 years. Our bus service is my only means of transportation to get to and from work, school and various other places, so I’ve grown to know how our bus system has evolved.
Here is one story about how the current service is not serving Port Coquitlam residents:
Dropped off by my fellow gardeners at Cape Horn and Colony Farm Road on Sept. 30. It was 5:40 p.m., seven minutes before the bus is to arrive. Only three 169 buses are scheduled to veer through Riverview, two had already gone. I was depending on the last bus of the night.
The bus across the street going to Braid had left at 5:28 p.m. It’s 6:55 p.m., so I called bus information about my ride, only to find out that the bus supposed to go through Riverview was overcrowded right from the get-go at Braid so there would no more service for the night.
The sun quickly setting, and with me wearing a T-shirt and shorts, and suffering from severe hip pain, I was pondering the transit information clerk’s recommendation that I walk to the 159 bus service at Golden and United — this would mean traveling by foot 2 km along Lougheed Highway, including the overpass.
Transferred over to customer relations, I was kept on hold until my cellphone battery died. I was now stranded, unable to make it home safely, watching cars drive by until, out of nowhere, a stranger offered me a ride to Coquitlam Central Station.
I’m not the only person affected by a less-than-satisfactory transit system.
Seniors living in townhomes near me had to move because of the bus service cut — for them, bus service was essential.
Something needs to be done. There needs to be an independent body that oversees proper planning over all municipalities so a more strategic plan can be carried out in respect to all areas.
TransLink must better manage our tax dollars. And a far as the defeated transit referendum, more trust is needed before asking for more of our hard-earned dollars. And all those drivers who work the front lines could be asked for their advice about improvements.
I suggest that consideration should be made to making our transit system free across the board by cutting administration costs and using the transportation sector as a tool to put our economy into high gear.
For now, the system doesn’t seem to be working for those like me who need to use it.
Brian Pozsonyi,
Port Coquitlam
