Skip to content

Jangula out of touch with transit users

Dear editor,
7975417_web1_170601-LDN-M-letters-logo-1-660x440

Dear editor,

Re: Directors squabble over transit costs (Aug. 1 Record)

I can appreciate Mayor Jangula’s concern with rising taxes in Courtenay, since I just got hit with a hefty 20 per cent increase myself, and I’m on a fixed income. But his comments about transit are completely off the mark.

Suggesting that seniors don’t use transit because they’ll get rides from their friends or relatives is just ridiculous.

How many of us would impose that way on other people? Some of us don’t have relatives, we’re on our own. Some of us don’t even have that many close friends, and even if we do, who would be inconsiderate or rude enough to call them up at the drop of a hat every time we want a lift somewhere?

I use the bus almost every day to get to my errands, and sometimes even twice. And sometimes for pleasure.

I’d be wearing out people’s patience pretty quickly if I kept calling up to say, “Oh, I need to get to Driftwood, I ran out of onions” or “can you take me to Filberg, I’d like to walk through the park.” People don’t have time for that! As for paying a ‘ride service,’ we’d be paying through the nose just to buy a package of noodles at the supermarket, especially now that we’ve lost our downtown grocery.

Perhaps there are other strategies that could be used, maybe more frequency during peak hours only, or smaller buses during slow times. But transit for seniors is essential. It’s one of the reasons we live in a city rather than a remote rural setting.

Seniors need their self-sufficiency, not dependence on favours from others. And Courtenay has a lot of seniors.

Martha Jones

Courtenay