Dear editor, I have read with interest the articles documenting the funding for a public transit system that the City of Airdrie has put in place. Currently, there is no system to transport those few who wish to go into the City to conduct personal business.
I have not seen any mention of the fact that, with this proposal, a transit system that has been in place for over 18 years will now fold. I refer to the commuter system that services Airdrie, run by First Student Canada. This system has refined itself to the point of being user-friendly with pick ups in your own neighbourhood, and consumer friendly for downtown workers with four different runs direct to and from the downtown core.
You may wonder why we need these? There are currently over 200 users of the First Student Canada system who need to be at the office between 7 and 8 a.m. and are then happy to board and ride home in coach seats, from 4 to 6 p.m. We pay for this service out of our own pockets.
The City’s alternative has a clean time run of 56 minutes from pick up to downtown. These times cannot and do not compare to the 35 minutes we now have in place. The 200 users are now faced with a cancellation of our bus system.
I’m not saying that the City is the only one at fault here for our losing our means of transport, but it appears that no thought or discussion was put into place prior to the announcement of the routes. In November, when the open house was held, the City stated it would not cross into the downtown core. It has since changed its position.
Should the City have stayed to the north entry points and C-Train drops, we would not be having this issue.
Is there room for both systems? With some juggling and open-minded discussions, I believe there is, but the City needs to pay attention and ask the users.
If we lose our current bus system, I will be back in the car on the road with the thousands who currently drive back and forth to downtown Calgary.
Lucyna Pettigrew, Airdrie
