BC Transit made a stop at TRU last week to gauge reaction to proposed changes to the transit system next year. Students and faculty wandering through Old Main on Nov. 19 got the chance to offer their suggestions for improvement and put Phase 2 of the Transit Future Plan, a 25-year guideline for the transit system, under the microscope.
Suggested changes for next September include altered routes for lines 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10, increased service on the number 1 down Tranquille Road, and a new line with service to TRU.
Yellow stickers show TRU community priorities on transit. Leif Douglass, TRUSU vice president external, student Kaitlin Clement and BC Transit’s Erin Felker pose by a feedback board on Student Street on Nov. 19. (Alexis Stockford/The Omega)
“A lot of the service changes that we’re looking at for next year bring big improvements to the students and the routes that serve TRU,” said Erin Felker, senior regional transit manager for BC Transit.
Passers-by got the chance to share their priorities among already proposed changes (increased service between TRU and downtown and more direct and reliable routes on lines 4, 7 and 10 proved popular) or give more open feedback through a post-it board. Posted suggestions included adding more bike racks to buses and expanded weekend and evening services.
Amanda Kasper was one of the students who took advantage of the chance for feedback.
“It looks like they’re trying to increase the frequency [of buses],” she said.
The first-year arts student said she finds the number 10 bus she takes every day too unreliable and infrequent. She also said she would be happy with any effort to make the bus schedule more reliable.
“Sometimes you can be waiting for like 30 minutes for your bus and in the dead of winter ¬– that kind of sucks,” she said.
TRU Open Learning staff member, Sarah Langlois, on the other hand, said she takes the number 9 bus five times a week and is happy with the service.
“It works perfectly for me,” she said. “It picks me up right outside my work building and drops me off two minutes away from home.”
The Nov. 19 information booth was part of a larger feedback campaign by BC Transit. Similar booths were set up around the city. Kamloops residents could also weigh in with an online survey, which closed Nov. 23.
Feedback received will be analyzed by BC Transit to form recommendations, which will be presented to city council by March 2015.
