Public transit is one of those issues that’s quick to spur emotion. Many argue the ability for a community to transport its residents from point A to point B is as important as the infrastructure bringing water and electricity to homes.
The past 12 months have been a public transit nightmare for city council. And it doesn’t look like this bad dream is about to end anytime soon.
It started with a Trojan horse from Victoria. With much fanfare last spring on the lawn of City Hall, BC Transit unveiled the new buses Nelson Transit was about to receive. Fresh from doing laps at the Vancouver Olympics, these modern buses were going to bolster our local fleet. Well, it turns out it was a gag gift. Under the guise of enhancement, local taxpayers were helping solve BC Transit’s glut of Olympic buses.
To deal with cost overruns and a system sadly underused, a few weeks back council mapped out ways to trim the system. The decision to head in the direction of cuts weighed heavy on councillors, but as stewards of our tax dollars they swallowed hard.
Those who rely on our transit system the most — the working poor, seniors and the disabled — have been quick to raise their voices in protest. Any change to an already lean system is going to cause hardship.
Even when council aims to enhance the system with measures like a new bus exchange on Victoria Street, residents get riled. Though the city is laying the groundwork for a bolstered regional service, closing a main downtown street to traffic is going to have consequences on business and traffic flow.
Clearly the city can’t win when it comes to transit.
Solving the transit puzzle requires more use of the service. Council knows this, but for years has not been able to crack the nut. Public transit will become more vital in our future and unless more people get on board, the controversy will continue.