Official Fredericton, NB projects thread

[Taeolas]

New high water marker revealed.

The city is going to be putting an art piece on the Green near the pedway as a way for people to see how high the spring floods go.

Cultural Development Officer Angela Watson described 'Watermark' as a series of 11 posts, ranging in height from 0.8 metres to three metres, which will be placed one metre apart on the Green west of the pedway.

She said the work will be easily viewed from a distance during flooding as the poles disappear under water.

Flood water levels and significant years, notably 1973 and 2008, will be indicated on the poles.

A good idea, and it looks neat.

[Blue Blazer]

Hey Tally

What do you think of this story ?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...-app-1.3281404


Probably the smartest idea they will ever come up with. Dragons den lol

[Taeolas]

Meh, the bus tracker we HAD 3-4 years ago, but they stopped updating it and the app died. (CGI was making it and it just silently stopped working and never worked again).

So getting a new tracker is long overdue.

The hotspot payment method, I'm fairly meh on. I use a bus pass so I don't bother with cash fares. As is, Freddy Transit feels too small to bother with that sort of program; but it might be good to start it at this stage if it isn't too expensive, so it can grow naturally as FT does.

Overall, I still say the #1 improvement FT can make is still Sunday service.

A chaper improvement might be to add route maps to the major locations. They have them at Regent, King and Brookside. But the shelters at the grocery stores, at Uptown Centre and so forth should also have at least the route map and time schedule for the routes that go by it.

[Blue Blazer]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Meh, the bus tracker we HAD 3-4 years ago, but they stopped updating it and the app died. (CGI was making it and it just silently stopped working and never worked again).

So getting a new tracker is long overdue.

The hotspot payment method, I'm fairly meh on. I use a bus pass so I don't bother with cash fares. As is, Freddy Transit feels too small to bother with that sort of program; but it might be good to start it at this stage if it isn't too expensive, so it can grow naturally as FT does.

Overall, I still say the #1 improvement FT can make is still Sunday service.

A chaper improvement might be to add route maps to the major locations. They have them at Regent, King and Brookside. But the shelters at the grocery stores, at Uptown Centre and so forth should also have at least the route map and time schedule for the routes that go by it.

If you want Sunday service start emailing Bruce Grandy. The bus drivers will not want to work it. But I agree with you if they are making the Big bucks being OP1 they should have to work.

[Freddypop]

Drove by the Picaroons construction today. Wow! What an improvement. The building is really coming along. They have started the controversial parking lot construction. The new addition is now weatherproof. Once they complete the landscaping this place is going to be a jewel

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Meh, the bus tracker we HAD 3-4 years ago, but they stopped updating it and the app died. (CGI was making it and it just silently stopped working and never worked again).

So getting a new tracker is long overdue.

The hotspot payment method, I'm fairly meh on. I use a bus pass so I don't bother with cash fares. As is, Freddy Transit feels too small to bother with that sort of program; but it might be good to start it at this stage if it isn't too expensive, so it can grow naturally as FT does.

Overall, I still say the #1 improvement FT can make is still Sunday service.

A chaper improvement might be to add route maps to the major locations. They have them at Regent, King and Brookside. But the shelters at the grocery stores, at Uptown Centre and so forth should also have at least the route map and time schedule for the routes that go by it.

If they would implement Sunday service would you be Ok with secondary lines terminating between the hours of 6PM, and 6:30PM

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by Scarface

If they would implement Sunday service would you be Ok with secondary lines terminating between the hours of 6PM, and 6:30PM

Hell, to start, I wouldn't mind if Sunday service was only the core routes ( 10/11/12/13 and the 14/15). The 116/16/17 could be added later when demand builds up. (And the 18/20 routes don't even have Saturday service yet, let alone need Sunday. )

For now, I'd probably also be fine with all Sunday service stopping around 6:30 PMish. Most stores are still operating on a 12-5 Sunday shopping schedule, so that would let retail workers close up shop and bus home like they would during the week.

I think the biggest bang for our Sunday service buck will be the Morning and Afternoon service. Morning service would let Church goers use the buses to get to/from church. And afternoon is the main sunday shopping time, so they'd be handy for people going around and running errands.

Sunday evening would only really service movie goers, other event-goers and late retail workers mainly. There probably isn't enough demand yet to make that worthwhile.

Personally, as a bachelor without a car, no Sunday service limits my options. If I want to go to the movies or to some other event, I basically need to spend 10$ each way on a taxi, on top of the event itself. So a Sunday movies trip (with food) would cost me ~50$, whereas it would only cost me 20-30$ during the week or on Saturdays. Even with no Sunday evening service, sunday bus service would save me 1 taxi trip (~10$) to the event.

(Oh and I just spent a chunk of my afternoon writing an email to Bruce Grandy about my thoughts on Freddy Transit in general. )

[Taeolas]

The traffic monitoring device I mentioned earlier; I noticed another device at Woodstock and Smythe. Looks like the city probably hired a company to do a traffic study in the city, probably around the intersections/routes they are looking to upgrade in the next few years.

[MooCowMilk]

They need to get the bus drivers to work on Sundays, that's the big holdup. I personally know three of them and all I can say is good luck getting them to go along with it. Aside from even a limited Sunday service I'd like to see an express route of sorts from point A to B instead of the meandering through here and there that takes up to an hour to get somewhere. Kings Place up Regent to the Mall for example. 10-15 minute express route and I know people would use that option. Moneyless tap chip options? Come on, spend money elsewhere.

[Blue Blazer]

Originally Posted by MooCowMilk

They need to get the bus drivers to work on Sundays, that's the big holdup. I personally know three of them and all I can say is good luck getting them to go along with it. Aside from even a limited Sunday service I'd like to see an express route of sorts from point A to B instead of the meandering through here and there that takes up to an hour to get somewhere. Kings Place up Regent to the Mall for example. 10-15 minute express route and I know people would use that option. Moneyless tap chip options? Come on, spend money elsewhere.

I know of them too, I do not know them personally. I just hear about the ones that give their friends free rides. You know what too bad work Sunday or lose your job is all I have to say about them. They got it way too easy.

[MooCowMilk]

Originally Posted by Blue Blazer

I know of them too, I do not know them personally. I just hear about the ones that give their friends free rides. You know what too bad work Sunday or lose your job is all I have to say about them. They got it way too easy.

A 10-15 minute coffee and smoke break at Kings Place every single hour on the hour when you roll in at 0 or 5 after and the route doesn't leave till 15 after.

[Taeolas]

Over in the Transit thread here, when Freddy Transit is brought up, people often compare it to Kingston Transit.

Looking at the Wiki listing, they don't really seem that comparable; until you realize that 5-8 years ago, KT was very similar to Freddy Transit. The difference is, back then, the Kingston city council decided that investment in KT was worthwhile, and from what I hear, the system is basically booming ever since. (With a fare system equal/less than Freddy Transit's)

For a proper city, the Transit network is as important a piece of the city's transportation system as the Road network is. It needs invested in as much as the roads and sidewalks need. At the moment, at best, Fredericton is stagnating its Transit network.

[MooCowMilk]

The estimates I've read are anywhere from 110 to 450 grand a year for Sunday bus service, based on how reduced of a schedule it would be. Seeing how they spent 150 grand on a meaningless lease for the iRock, they can add Sunday service. It's obviously not a money issue.....so what's up?

[OliverD]

$110k sounds extremely low. That might be the cost of labor alone but not fuel, increased maintenance, and other logistical matters. And actually, that might not even cover labor because you would likely have to hire 1-2 new drivers to help cover those shifts.

And of course it's a money issue. Whenever the city spends money they expect to get value out of what is spent. If you introduce Sunday service and ridership levels are relatively low you're increasing the level of subsidization for the entire transit system.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Over in the Transit thread here, when Freddy Transit is brought up, people often compare it to Kingston Transit.

Looking at the Wiki listing, they don't really seem that comparable; until you realize that 5-8 years ago, KT was very similar to Freddy Transit. The difference is, back then, the Kingston city council decided that investment in KT was worthwhile, and from what I hear, the system is basically booming ever since. (With a fare system equal/less than Freddy Transit's)

Kingston also has twice the population and a reasonably dense core. That makes a huge difference.

For a proper city, the Transit network is as important a piece of the city's transportation system as the Road network is. It needs invested in as much as the roads and sidewalks need. At the moment, at best, Fredericton is stagnating its Transit network.

It could be argued that a proper city has walkable neighborhoods that mitigate the need for transit. And of course it can be argued that Fredericton is hardly a proper city.

The way Fredericton is developing I question whether large investments in the transit system are worthwhile. Obviously there is room for incremental improvements but with our physical size and population I don't think it's realistic to expect a full-featured transit system anytime soon.

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by OliverD

The way Fredericton is developing I question whether large investments in the transit system are worthwhile. Obviously there is room for incremental improvements but with our physical size and population I don't think it's realistic to expect a full-featured transit system anytime soon.

I'd argue that NOT having 'Sunday Service' is unrealistic for a city that is practically a CMA now. Reaching out to Oromocto, Express bus routing, integrated para-transit, late night runs; those would be elements that I'd consider out of reach for now.

But Sunday service, even if it was just an hourly 0800 to 1800 10/11/12/13 route run (4 buses, 40 runs) would be filling in a major gap in the service.

For the most part, Freddy does have walkable neighbourhoods.

But on the flip side, our movie theatre, most of our major shopping areas (Regent/Prospect, Corbett, 2NC, theoretically Brookside), our 2 newest major arenas, our 'casino' major gambling hall, are all located at the tops of the rather steep valley we are in. Walking/Biking to them, while not impossible, is not trivial. Especially in the November to April stretch.

At the very least, the city should try to budget for a trial run to expand the system that way. Do a 6 month trial run of the 10/12 and 14 routes on the Sunday day, and get a feel for how it is received. As it is, it's hard to tell if Sunday service is an untapped demand, or a waste of money.

*Edit* Hell, even CHARLOTTETOWN has Sunday bus services! All day HALF Hour Sunday service at that!

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Kingston also has twice the population and a reasonably dense core. That makes a huge difference.



It could be argued that a proper city has walkable neighborhoods that mitigate the need for transit. And of course it can be argued that Fredericton is hardly a proper city.

The way Fredericton is developing I question whether large investments in the transit system are worthwhile. Obviously there is room for incremental improvements but with our physical size and population I don't think it's realistic to expect a full-featured transit system anytime soon.

Seeing as Moncton, and Fredericton seem to have approximately the same population why is it that Moncton's Transit has got a complete overhaul of it's route mapping system. In this case I'm not counting Dieppe, and Riverview because there paying there part to get access to the transit system as well, and when we talk about Fredericton making there system more user friendly it's an automatic no? I do say Fredericton could in fact do trial runs that is what Moncton does with potential new routes.

[Taeolas]

Moncton is in better shape because they have Riverview and Dieppe.

Lincoln, Hanwell, and Oromocto (Oromocto mainly) are not big enough to boost FT; but eventually I do forsee Freddy Transit becoming Capital Transit and a loop going to Oromocto via Lincoln and the airport.

As for Sunday Service, I had another thought; instead of using existing routes, they could have a specific route or two that only runs on Sundays. Maybe use it to test some "Express Route" routing to get a feel for timings and availability.

But overall, I have the feel that the 10/12 route will probably be the best to pilot Sunday service with (and not just because it's my route); the 14 should also be done because I think it's the 3rd busiest routing and it services regions that the 10/12 don't reach. (Marysville and Hanwell areas basically)

[trev71]

Another vote for Sunday service. I don't use the city bus either but if they are going to have it they should be going 7 days a week. Long as Wal-Mart and the malls are open the bus routes should be open. People need to get to their jobs at an affordable rate compared to taxis

[Taeolas]

Fredericton Approves new Ward boundaries.

A bigger map

Overall, seems to be a good redistribution. I'd say that MacLeod Hill will be added as part of Ward 2 when it comes in in 2017?

I think the strangest element is Ward 4. It's obvious they wanted to keep Main street intact under a single Councillor; but it feels like they should have had merged it with Ward 3 and let the 2NC/east of Ring Road block be a 'new' Ward 4, possibly expanding out to RingRoad and Brookside as its boundary. If Ward 2 ends up light, it would be offset when MacLeod Hill comes into the city.

Going by those numbers (not counting MacLeod Hill).
Northside Population: 27053
Southside Population: 30519
Total Population: 57572

*Edit* By the numbers, the Southside is almost at the point where it might technically warrant an extra councillor compared to the Northside, but in reality it probably wouldn't really be considered unless the population differences were closer towards warranting 2 councillors (ie around a 10k difference). Northside growth seems consistent enough that we probably won't be in a position to unbalance the wards any time soon.