More Bus Talk at City Hall

It was requested in the spring and it was approved but no one took advantage of the new evening bus service during the summer and so it was cancelled this fall.  Now, there is a renewed call for evening buses in Moose Jaw.

Once again, the Regional Intersectoral Committee is asking councillors to expand bus service with Karen Closs saying the lack of transit options in our city is hurting those on a budget.  She says the pilot project this summer was flawed because it was too short and wasn't advertised enough.

"It was further exacerbated by having to cut daytime service from half hour wait times to one hour wait times, which only serviced to enrage a number of regular transit users." argued Closs. "It's also worth noting that, according to the Transportation Master Plan, ridership increases by 1000 to 2000 riders in the winter compared to the summer."

The Transit Department reported little to no increase in the number of evening riders during the pilot project and councillors cancelled it, in favour of simply running buses an hour later on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, for what seemed to be the busiest evenings.

During the previous discussions where the pilot project was cancelled, councillors seemed open to exploring all options when it came to bus service but seemed hesitant to spend any extra funds since the program is already heavily subsidized.

Councillor Don Mitchell presented a motion Monday night to have city administration prepare a report on those costs for the 2015 budget talks with a hope of running buses until 9pm each weeknight.  While the motion was passed 4-2, councillors still seemed apprehensive.

Councillor Heather Eby may have voted in favour of the report, she explained that she wanted to see the numbers and let the public see exactly how much this expanded service was going to cost. Meanwhile, Councillors Brian Swanson and Dawn Luhning were against the report, saying they already knew that it was an item that the city couldn't afford.