I'm sure it was an important call
Jeremy Colangelo
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Opinion
I'm going to tell you all a little story.
On a day like this not too long ago a young student at a university much like this one was heading home from a long day of class. He arrived just in time to see his bus, specifically the 116 Brock-Glenridge bus, getting ready to pull away. It was alright though, he needn't worry, he'd arrived just as the door closed.
Surely the bus driver was not so heartless as to pull away from a paying customer! But it did. And the young man shouted at the bus, and chased after it, banging on the door and yelling for it to stop. But the driver didn't hear him, not because of the incessant talking of the passengers, for the bus was nearly empty, but because he was speaking on his radio and was far too busy to take a glance to his right once in a while
I'll bet you wouldn't guess who this student was. Well, actually, you probably can, I'm about as subtle as an atom bomb. Yes, it was me. But my expository preamble is not an isolated incident. It is merely one example of the atrociousness of this city's bus system.
Anyone who's lived in this city for as long as I have can tell you how bad they are. Routes that they take make it impossible to get around town and the roundabout paths that they take can extend a 20 minute car ride to almost an hour. That is, of course, if you happen to get one. With few exceptions, the busses come every 20 minutes at best, but not late at night and every hour on weekends, unless they arrive late which is usually to be expected.
The bus system is not this city's only problem. It conspires with the sorry state of the downtown and crumbling automotive sector to put St. Catharines a fog bank away from Silent Hill. Sure, it's fine if you just want to head up the hill to Brock from your rental place, but if you have anywhere to go besides that then you probably have a lot of frustration ahead of you. This, unfortunately, will probably not be changing anytime soon.
Rising unemployment means fewer cars and more bus trips. That, plus the steady supply of Brock students to sell passes too, means that the city has no compelling financial reason to fix anything.
So if you want to get somewhere, you'd best start walking.
On a day like this not too long ago a young student at a university much like this one was heading home from a long day of class. He arrived just in time to see his bus, specifically the 116 Brock-Glenridge bus, getting ready to pull away. It was alright though, he needn't worry, he'd arrived just as the door closed.
Surely the bus driver was not so heartless as to pull away from a paying customer! But it did. And the young man shouted at the bus, and chased after it, banging on the door and yelling for it to stop. But the driver didn't hear him, not because of the incessant talking of the passengers, for the bus was nearly empty, but because he was speaking on his radio and was far too busy to take a glance to his right once in a while
I'll bet you wouldn't guess who this student was. Well, actually, you probably can, I'm about as subtle as an atom bomb. Yes, it was me. But my expository preamble is not an isolated incident. It is merely one example of the atrociousness of this city's bus system.
Anyone who's lived in this city for as long as I have can tell you how bad they are. Routes that they take make it impossible to get around town and the roundabout paths that they take can extend a 20 minute car ride to almost an hour. That is, of course, if you happen to get one. With few exceptions, the busses come every 20 minutes at best, but not late at night and every hour on weekends, unless they arrive late which is usually to be expected.
The bus system is not this city's only problem. It conspires with the sorry state of the downtown and crumbling automotive sector to put St. Catharines a fog bank away from Silent Hill. Sure, it's fine if you just want to head up the hill to Brock from your rental place, but if you have anywhere to go besides that then you probably have a lot of frustration ahead of you. This, unfortunately, will probably not be changing anytime soon.
Rising unemployment means fewer cars and more bus trips. That, plus the steady supply of Brock students to sell passes too, means that the city has no compelling financial reason to fix anything.
So if you want to get somewhere, you'd best start walking.
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