To the editor:
I am writing to you today in the hopes that you will help me raise awareness of the way the City runs the transit bus system here in North Bay.
Our now overcrowded buses have become an absolute hazardous nightmare. It is affecting passenger well-being, especially for our handicapped, senior citizens, and pregnant mothers and children.
I have witnessed an elderly man named Jimmy, fall down hard against the entrance doors and had to be lifted up from the floor carefully and placed in his seat. I was the one who helped him. I have witnessed a mother and her infant son not being able to board the bus in minus-20 weather because of overcrowding. The woman was taking her child to the emergency ward at the hospital and had no other means to get there, which meant, she had to spend the next hour waiting for another bus. The bus driver just closed the door and said "It's full."
I am all for opening our borders, but if a city is going to take in X many people, don't you think those city officials should make sure we can accommodate for all the extra people? There is so much pushing, shoving, and butting.
College students pile in front of everyone without any consideration for the elders, disabled, pregnant mothers, and or parents with children. They take up the seats in front of the bus and have to be yelled at to move because those seats are designated areas for our seniors, handicapped, pregnant mothers, etc.
When you're on an over-packed bus and come to a stop with a person in a wheelchair, they are not allowed to enter. The bus is already too full so the bus driver drives on. It is so hard to watch. I'm sure the drivers are just as frustrated with the system as 90% of the public that rely on the bus system.
City Hall has added an "on-demand" bus that is called Dynamic Dispatching. I have tried this service numerous times with nothing but a huge headache and another withdrawal from my bank account for cab fare. It doesn't work!!! You either miss the bus that was supposed to be there for you or after doing the huge tour around the city, you miss your connecting bus and have to call a cab to get you the rest of the way home anyway.
The North Bay Transit System is broken. I am not the only person in North Bay who feels this way. I would love to have a huge protest in front of City Hall. I want our Mayor to ride the Transit for one whole week, so he can experience just how terrible it is being packed like sardines on a bus, have it be late so you miss your connecting bus, or not be allowed on because there's already too many onboard.
WE NEED THINGS TO CHANGE!!!!
We need more buses
We need more drivers
We need the schedules to change and be more accommodating to the bigger population we had before Covid!
This is heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. Our city officials need to take responsibility and provide better services for its citizens.
They just raised the bus fare again, but refuse to help the public get what they need.
Shame on our Mayor and City Council!!! Let's Make Some NOISE!!!!!
Kimberly Chapman
North Bay
