Another packed house at city council Monday as city residents weighed in on the new transit route changes. Photos by Dennis Chippa.
For the second time in less than a week, city council heard from frustrated residents about transit route changes implemented as of Sunday.
Last week, following a public meeting with Labreche Drive residents, council voted to amend the new transit routes to use Ashdale Crescent as a turnaround for buses.
Monday night, it was Ashdale’s turn, led by Natasha Laframboise.
“Our street is already a congested one, we have a lot of legal apartments. We have thirty-two semis. The housing co-op on Bunting, the houses on Bunting, it just makes for a small area and a very busy area and it’s already a concern now.”
Laframboise and other Ashdale residents told council they are worried about safety for the many children on the street, for the older residents on the street, for the residents of the two group homes operated by Community Living North Bay, as well as potential changes in property values with buses going by all day long.
Most importantly, Laframboise says residents are upset that changes were made to their street with virtually no notice.
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Natasha Laframboise presents Ashdale Crescent residents' concerns, along with a large petition gathered in just a few days.
“We had four days to get ready for a bus coming down our street, where others had, I’m not sure when the process was implemented but as I said, this whole thing started in 2014. So how do you wake up with a bus on your front door one morning after.“
Ashdale wasn’t the only part of the city that raised concerns about the changes.
Andrea Robinson, who lives on Lancelot Avenue in the Birchaven area, represents residents upset with changes to the route in their area, as extending the routes cost other streets in that area to be cut out.
“The original proposal was excellent. It took advantage of existing routes and signage, it found efficiencies, it served areas that it hadn’t served before. The Cove, there would now be a bus that goes straight to the Cove," she said.
“But to find a few points of a kilometer in savings there will be increased costs, which is unfortunate.”
Meantime, other residents have already told councilors individually about changes to bus stops and the movement of bus stops that simply made no sense.
Allan Bessette and his wife told council they need their bus stop on Kehoe Street where it is, not moved further up the street.
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Allan Bessette explains a change to his Kehoe Street bus stop makes walking difficult for he and his wife.
In the end, Councillor Mark King put forward an amendment to direct staff to make some changes to the bus stops, keep the new route changes the way they are for now, while trying to find the best solutions available.
King wants a report to council no later than August 10th.
“For instance for the residents of Kehoe. If there’s a bus stop that was there before and it has been moved, we’re going to try and address it between now and August 10th. I’ve asked staff as of this morning what municipal property is actually owned on the east side of Booth around the Ashdale area, and if we had the opportunity in that area to build a turnaround," said King.
“The other issue with Birchaven, we’re going to discuss that. We’re not finished with that and it’s my intent to try and get it resolved so that neighbourhood’s happy.”
King admits while there were a lot of consultations held over the last several months about the route changes, residents on Ashdale in particular were not part of the plan, so therefore not part of the discussions, until the change was made last week.
“They didn’t know until Thursday morning of last week, they didn’t know. And to be honest, neither did staff nor did I. So I mean that’s the nature of the animal, things can change and that was a change that took place and we’ll just have to deal with it the way it is.”
Even Laframboise says the reality is that the changes that are currently in place may stay.
“We obviously want the buses off our street, but we did not expect council to have to make that decision tonight because we wanted all the elements to be taken into consideration before this happens again, and the last thing we want is for another neighbourhood to be put into the same position that we are.”
The residents, and the city, have just about two months to come up with a plan.
