By Adam Donnelly

City seeking input for changes to Kamloops Transit

Nov 30, 2016 | 4:27 PM

KAMLOOPS — For many residents of Kamloops, city buses are their primary mode of transportation. The city, along with BC Transit, is looking for input from transit users to help improve the system. Today, stakeholders visited a couple of locations in the city, including Thompson Rivers University, to find out what improvements riders hope to see in the coming years.

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For many TRU students, taking the bus to and from school is a decision based on pure economics.

“Parking is like $5, so it’s really expensive, and gas… is really expensive. I get a free bus pass, so I use it,” one TRU student explained.

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While including the U-Pass in the fees TRU students pay for is a convenience for them, it also makes them stakeholders in the transit system. For those who do ride transit regularly, there are some specific improvements they’d like to see.

“It definitely a be improved,” said one student, who lives in Aberdeen and rides the #4 bus.

Another student said he thought the service should start using GPS to track buses to make it easier for riders to plan their trip. “Sometimes the bus is five minutes early, sometimes it’s five minutes late, and there’s no warning, right?”

And the student who doesn’t drive because she doesn’t like pay for parking feels like there could efficiencies put in place for riders on the outskirts of the city. “I go all the way out to Rayleigh. There’s a point between 7:00 am and 8:00[am], where there’s no bus.”

Transit riders can give their input this week, as city employees and members of BC Transit are out in the community, asking for the riders help in making improvements to the Kamloops Transit System.

“We’re looking at where to implement service,” Transit Engineer Megan Beaulieu explained. “Is it earlier service, is it later night service, more frequent service? Or maybe service to different parts of the community.”

The city recently approved 3000 extra hours of service, for implementation in September 2017.

“3000 hours isn’t a huge amount of hours,” Beaulieu told CFJC Today when it comes to busses on the road. “It does allow us to do tweaks here and there, add a couple of busses… So we’re hoping those couple of busses make a big difference to the community.”

The consultation process is also a forum for riders to give feedback on improvements implemented last fall. Representatives from BC Transit will be at transit exchanges around the city tomorrow, as well at Sunday’s Blazers game, asking riders for their input on improving bus service throughout the city.