Quote:
Originally Posted by dsim249
I've never had any problems with our public transit. But then again, I only use it to get to and from the U of S occasionally. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of someone who uses public transit with more reliance.
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My thoughts about Stoon Tran? ... Well, since you asked:
They try to run the scheduling like Greyhound, general times that are not really accurately adhered to. Only this is a urban transit system, not an intercity bus line, and to be convenient, things need to be more precise. This hits home when you are standing at a stop in -46 C waiting for your bus, which you don't know if you've missed, or is catastrophically late.
The timetables are overly simplistic: they stay at the same headways and running times throughout the day, taking no heed of rush hour congestion and the resulting delays in service. Basically, every afternoon, the whole system falls apart and connections are useless. Running time needs to be added. Also the headways could be increased in peak hours. If Regina can manage to run bus routes at 20 minute headways, so can we. This is elementary transit planning, not rocket science... it just seems rather sloppy and lazy.
There seems to be gaps on operations. Firstly, the bus drivers treat departure times (particularly from the Downtown terminal) as mere suggestions of when to leave. They seem to not have enough layover (break) time, so they take it out of the running time then drive like hell to catch up. They may be generally mum about this, or it could be some stupid game of "bus schedule chicken", I don't know... either way, if they feel the layover time is insufficient, they need to address this through proper channels.
Also, there is next to no communications coming from transit. Every time there is a detour, it is never posted on the website. In fact, it has been the U of S Facilities Dept handling detour communications for transit on the uni campus. You are lucky if you get a garbage bag over the bus stop sign to alert you of the detour. If it your stop is bagged, you should probably ignore it anyway because they like to randomly bag stops when they are, in fact, in operation.
On the whole, I feel the staff think of their jobs as a social service, which yes, it is in many ways. But if "because thats the way we've always done it" encompasses their efforts and aspirations regarding public transit in Saskatoon, it will never, ever be a viable travel alternative to those who have a choice in travel mode (and even for some who don't).
On the positive side, I gather the new manager is quite progressive and genuinely excited about improving transit. Also, the route system is reasonably well designed. Even though routes may be hourly, you usually have more than one options to get from A to B, if you are willing to walk a little further.
They are doing what they can with a taxpayer-base that is largely hostile to funding a proper level of transit service, but there are many areas where things could be changed without additional funding. There's more festering, but I'll shut up now.
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