The Nelson Transit Community stood before council at Monday's committee of the whole meeting.
Barry Nelson - who was speaking on behalf of the community - presented a proposal that was sent to city council last week.
The proposal asks for public consultation in the form of two round table discussions that would hopefully precede the 2012 budget discussions.
"I recently heard that the timeline is too tight," said Nelson during his presentation, but acting mayor Bob Adams reassured him that even though budget debates start in January they often last several months.
Nelson spoke about how proud Mayor John Dooley is about the forward planning done in projects such as the Plan to 2040, which Nelson said included a lot of public input.
But asked, "why isn't the same public input being used in long term transit planning?"
He also referred to the public discussion that has currently been requested with regards to the hot topic of backyard chickens.
"Backyard chickens only affect the minority of the population, but why isn't the same being asked for long term transit which may impact the whole," said Nelson.
City manager Kevin Cormack said that public input has been part of the plan all along.
Cormack and Dooley also emphasized that the changes to transit in Nelson are part of a regional plan.
"We're in a place where there could be some short term pain for some long term gain," he said.
Dooley spoke honestly and said "it's highly unlikely to have public input done before the budget discussions."
He also received criticism from a member of the Nelson Transit Community in the gallery after Dooley spoke of an example of eliminating one of the stops at Trafalgar school in the interest of a more efficient system.
"Some of the decisions that you're making on these particular bus routes to me don't work for those who are disabled," said the member of the community. "What if one of you went blind tomorrow or had your car taken away from you? You'd be the first ones belly aching and complaining."
Adams finished the public delegations with the transit community by saying "the whole system will be looked at on a whole and I'm sure we'll get it right."
No recommendations or motions were made at the completion of the presentation.