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Transit Advisory committee says Medicine Hat should give new system a chance

Sep 25, 2017 | 5:24 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB. – The Public Service Board met with the Transit Advisory committee on Monday, September 25, 2017 to give suggestions for the Transit System in the city of Medicine Hat.

The advisory committee was not in favour of city council’s motion on September 18 to revert back to the old Transit System said Grant Bray, a member of the Transit Advisory committee.

“The present system that is in operation is functional but needing some changes to make it more functional, there are some issues,” he explained.

Bray said the new Transit System does not encompass all areas of the city and residents who used to have access from public transit from their homes now do not. He further explained the hours of operation do not meet the needs of the community who wish to take transit past 6:30 p.m. and on weekends

“You don’t change a bus system overnight, it takes a lot of time and a lot of trial and error to figuring out what is going to work best,” he said.

This was met with frustration from city council members. Councillor Les Pearson said council did not have this information before voting on the motion to revert back to the old Transit System.

“The meetings of these committees happened this past week so it’s after the last council meeting and no, we did not have this information when we had our decision,” he explained.

Pearson said he is not happy that the city is paying for a Transit System that is not working properly.

“One of the real problems with the motion at the council meeting is the wasted money that we’ve spent in developing this new system, both with a consultant and with signage, moving shelters, all those issues,” he said.

The new Medicine Hat Transit System was estimated to save the city $625,000 a year compared to the old system. The city does not know what the cost would be to make changes to the new system to make it more functional for users.