Since I was unable to attend the public meetings, I would like to express my feelings on the suggested changes to the city bus routes.
In my particular case, I use the upper level route of the #3 bus. Being a senior, I use the bus sometimes to go downtown, but I always return on the bus because of the uphill route. I purchase a monthly pass. With the pass purchased, you can understand that it doesn’t matter how much or how little I use the bus.
The deletion of this part of the route will eliminate many new visitors to the expanded Haven Hill home. It will also eliminate the Upper Bench school who use it for excursions from time to time. I doubt if it would be any cheaper for them to charter a school bus. Instead, like you, to save money they will probably just cut out the excursions. There are many seniors like myself that I meet using this service.
I have made some inquiries in other towns, and they all seem to have routes that do not pay. They often refer to them as feeder lines that bring people to the more popular downtown routes. I am quite sure that Mayor Ashton would agree that you don’t create more revenue by cutting back on inventory.
I do hope the council will revisit this action as a service to taxpayers and not as a means of cutting costs. Perhaps this is already a service that “ain’t broke, so don’t try to fix it”.
I am forwarding a copy of this letter to the print media in hopes I can interest some like-minded people.
Carl W. Harris
Penticton