A recent experience bids me seriously question the modus operandi of St Albert Transit. The incident was at best inconsiderate and at worst potentially dangerous.
On Wednesday Jan. 19 I boarded the Route 201 in downtown Edmonton at approximately 9:55. Upon arriving at Village Transit station on schedule, the driver of the bus was informed via radio that, rather than continuing on to St. Albert Centre, she was to skip that portion of the route and head directly back to Edmonton as a southbound 201. As one of several passengers who had boarded the bus intending to arrive at St. Albert Centre, I naturally inquired as to how I was to get there given the change in route. The two options given to me were to wait for the next A14 (55 minutes away) or to walk.
I, along with a young lady in a similar predicament, chose the latter option, which in turn presented two possible routes: following St. Albert Trail (which has no sidewalks) or following Grandin Road (where the sidewalks are largely buried). While a three-kilometre hike down a well-travelled roadway, sporadically dodging traffic was, if not ideal, at least manageable for a pair of reasonably fit 20-somethings, I cannot help but wonder what the situation would have been like for someone of reduced mobility, unsound constitution or someone with small children.
Fifty-five minutes is not an acceptable waiting time when one is derailed through no fault of one's own, from the posted route, nor is a potentially hazardous trek a viable alternative. I am not intimately familiar with the intricacies of mass-transit co-ordination and I allow that some accommodation must be made for environmental conditions, yet it strikes me as counterintuitive and inconsiderate to repurpose a bus that is essentially on time at the expense of several of its passengers.
Daniel Evans, Sturgeon County
