Courtesy: CHAT Newsroom

By Angela Kazmierczak

Caretaker says Special Transit Service not working

Jan 23, 2023 | 5:10 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A caretaker in Medicine Hat says the Special Transit service isn’t working.

Special Transit is used to transport seniors and those disabled. It is a program designed for individuals who can’t use the public transit service and need to be picked up from their home.

George Klassen, the primary caretaker of his wife, Patricia, hopes the city will take a look at the service with fresh eyes.

“I don’t understand why it takes, you know, a week, a week and a half, down the road to book for pick-up to be sure to get one. You know, realistically, why not within 48 hours. I mean, is that too much to ask? I don’t know.”

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Klassen often has to schedule two weeks in advance to ensure his wife can make it to doctor and bank appointments. And to him, the issues with the service don’t stop there.

He claims that when he and his wife are picked up, they at times waited hours for pick-up. To him, it isn’t a practical service, and the hours of waiting can really add stress on the disabled.

“It’s stressful for the person who is challenged as well. You know, they are on edge and they got anxiety issues and stress issues too,” said Klassen.

According to Gordon Dykstra, the Superintendent of Transit Operations, the city had to make some changes to the service in recent years.

“Coming out of COVID is going to be a little more difficult than going into COVID was. We had a number of years where we had a very low utilization of our service, for obvious reasons. Coming out, we have to balance the offer of service with people slowly getting back to normal life,” said Dykstra.

He says striking a balance in this situation is difficult.

“People complain of buses driving around without anybody on them, so we try to be as efficient as we can and put the service where people will use it the most,” he said.

Dykstra says more people need to use the service in order for more busses to run again. He recommends people schedule travel in the middle of the morning and afternoon, when buses aren’t as busy.

Additionally, he says the city is working on improving some new features to the service, including:

• Cutting down on repeat bookings to allow for more casual rides, and
• Launching a new software pilot project to allow people to book in real time.

Dykstra says later in the year, changes within the Special Transit service are likely to come.