06-06-2023, 10:33 PM
(06-05-2023, 09:54 PM)dunkalunk Wrote: So, attended the route 2 and 73 cancellation public information session on Zoom. Less about Route 2 since it seems that those concerns had mostly been addressed with the extension of route 34 through downtown, down Stirling/greenbrook and to Sunrise Centre. Lots of personal arguments for why 73 should have been kept and lamenting that 73 never got a "public consultation" before the decision had been made. I raised my hand and reminded people that if they care about transit, then they need to be reviewing the budget and attending planning and works to delegate. We'll see if the recording ever gets posted.
In all honesty, who has time to do that? Certainly no one here noticed that these routes were going to be cancelled, as there was no mention of it until the GRT posted that these routes were being cancelled. It's also silly to expect people to attend every budget session just in case it might affect them. Obviously the intent is to withhold information from the public, otherwise they would have mentioned to the public that during a budget process on this date they'd be discussing changes and cancellation to certain routes. This didn't happen.
We're in the Route 2 area. This entire route has suffered for 5 of the last 6 years without full service March to December because of roadworks because the city is too damned stupid to figure out how to do a job in one go rather than 6 years. Route 2 has been around forever, and certainly not a route you'd expect to be totally cut.
Either way, very few people have the time and energy to attend all of these meetings. This is especially true when these meetings go late into the evening, and you might not have transit to take you back home. Route 73, for example, last run is at 6:15. Anyone relying on that route is going to be walking home if they want to attend a budget session. Route 2's last run is at 9:08, so ditto on that. As for using Zoom, not everyone has a good internet connection (if at all), nor know how to use it.
That is why the GRT and the Region need to communicate with residents the things they have in mind. A simple mailer would be inexpensive, and would have given them the feedback need and perhaps save them the embarrassment of how stupid they are when making decisions.