The new route system implemented by Belleville Transit in the spring seems to be popular.
The chair of the city’s Transit Advisory Committee tells Quinte News that ridership went up by around 25,000 last month from November of last year, to a total of just over 71,000.
Councillor Kathryn Brown says the creation of more direct routes, cutting the maximum time to arrive at any destination to 30 minutes or less, from the previous up to 60 minutes, has made the transit service attractive to more people.
Brown says passengers used to complain regularly about how long trips took but things have changed.
“And when I say that that is complaints to the drivers, complaints being phoned in to the transit office….. people are just really pleased with the service.”
Brown concedes there are still a few complaints but adds, “It’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time but we seem to be making 80 per cent of riders happy and that is always our goal.”
Transit officials believe the system is on track to carry over 1.6 million riders by the end of the year and that would be a record.
A lot of the increase can be attributed to more Loyalist College students on the buses. The Loyalist service was vastly improved when the new route system came into effect, steadily running two buses from the downtown terminal to the college and back along Moira Street West and one on the route from the terminal along Dundas Street West.
With the increase in demand comes the need for more drivers. Recently, city council approved hiring six new operators early in the new year.
Meanwhile, Brown says that new fare boxes and software have been installed on all buses and riders can now use loadable fare cards.
“So literally we have now for credit cards and reloadable cards “tap and pay” so people don’t even have to go and buy a ticket anymore they can just go online and load their card.”
Loyalist students can buy a “branded” loadable card sponsored by Belleville Transit and the college, and Brown says that alone has attracted more people to the service.
Transit staff and committee members continue to develop “dashboards” showing information on the numbers of people boarding at any one stop at any given time, length of time for trips, and exactly where buses are located in real time.
Belleville Transit Mobility Bus (Photo: Belleville Transit)
Meanwhile, ridership on the mobility bus service for seniors and those with disabilities has been increasing as well.
” … because mobility service is door to door, not bus stop to bus stop. It’s from your front door to where your appointment is and then the mobility service picks you up from your appointment and delivers you back to your door and the fare is exactly the same as if you were going on a conventional bus.”
Chair of Belleville’s Transit Advisory Committee, Councillor Kathryn Brown. (Photo: Quinte News)
