An interim Transit Study report was presented publicly at the Public Services Committee meeting late yesterday afternoon, almost two months after it was produced, June 28, 2024. The interim report is the first report in the transit study process.
At the Tuesday meeting, representatives of consulting firm EXP Services Inc. provided an oral overview accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, explaining the highlights of their 61-page report.
The presentation slides and report were in the meeting agenda package, posted to the City’s website well in advance of the meeting.
Four local residents addressed the council during the Public Input Session at the beginning of the meeting – one by letter and three in person.
Their concerns included the placement of a waiting bench and a suggestion for an improvement, from the 93-year-old resident who wrote to the committee.
Speaking in person at the podium, resident, Stella Waddington, told the committee that the date range of the survey, “is not giving us an even playing field here. We really need it to be pre-2019 because 2019 was when we got these new buses that we’re currently using. And before, we had the kneeling bus so people could get on with their walkers and their shopping carts.”
“And then, when we got these new buses, a lot of people stopped using the bus,” Waddington said.
Waddington also remarked that the COVID pandemic had affected ridership.
Resident, Mike Thomas also addressed the committee. “We should have buses that are lower to the ground, easier to use, that’s obvious. There’s two people that have reported on that. One’s a PhD doctorate student.”
Thomas was referring to an independent study by Rachel Barber.
Many other concerns were raised during the Public Input Session. It can be viewed from the City’s video archive here.
The consultant’s presentation followed. It can be viewed here.
After the presentation, committee chair, Councillor Luc Morrissette, thanked the presenters and opened for questions and comments, “I think we all have a few questions to ask, and I’m going to start with a few.”
“Were the drivers interviewed for this study?” he asked.
The consultant explained that they had worked with AJ Bus Lines and Huron Lodge and that drivers had access to the survey distributed by the city but didn't know if any drivers had filled one out.
Morrissette: “Do we know how many people take transit on a daily basis, and how is that calculated?”
Consultant: “Yeah, the daily transit data that was provided to us from the city, is measured through fare box revenue and through the, I guess there has been counting that has occurred in the past. So, I'm not, you know, I don't know if you have an automatic passenger system counting system like some agencies, I don't think you do, but there is a lot of data that is available, and the average daily ridership number is certainly available. I don't have it offhand, though.”
Earlier in the evening during the Public Input Session, Stella Waddington told the committee that during COVID passengers were not required to pay the fare.
“At that time, people weren’t paying for the bus. So, we had people getting on the bus who don’t take the bus normally,” she explained.
Councillor Rick Bull pressed into concerns raised about data anomalies. “I’m just concerned about some of the data that’s shown, especially on the last page of the report. You show a 49 per cent increase for the Westhill ridership, but the numbers […] show it dropping.”
Consultant: “I don’t think there’s any issues with the data that we used. It’s perhaps the way it was presented that could be enhanced.”
Bull asked about the statistics by bus stop. “For one bus stop, it might say 68. Does that include pickups and drop-offs to make that number that high?
Consultant: “Yes. We look at both. The ons and the offs at each stop.”
Earlier, during the Public Input, Waddington commented regarding an area the report shows as a high-demand area saying, “One of the circles is around the very end of Washington Crescent where the bus turns around and there’s one bus stop there. I hardly ever see anybody getting on and off there.”
In the report, none of the bus stops on Washington Crescent that Waddington spoke about are listed on the four charts.