Edmonton looks at plan to move underused buses to busier routes

Seniors living at Gateway Manor in east Edmonton are gearing up for another fight with city council over their bus service.

They have successfully lobbied the city in the past to keep a bus stop in front of their homes and have been fighting to have afternoon service restored, but now there's new reason for concern.

The city is considering trimming bus service on some under-used routes in Edmonton in order to increase service on busier runs.

For Route 307 near Gateway Manor, afternoon service would be cut permanently and Sunday service would also be eliminated altogether.

Mary McVeeters, 87, has been living at Gateway Manor for more than 10 years and uses the bus three times a week.

"I think it's terrible," she said. "They're picking on seniors. Why? Why are they picking on seniors? We're stuck. We have to take a cab."

Fellow resident 78-year-old George Mann believes most of the residents are on a fixed income.

"[If] you got to go for milk over at Safeway, there's 10 bucks there and another 10 bucks back, plus what you're spending in the store," Mann said. "We don't have that kind of money. You take the bus away, we're screwed."

Mann and McVeeters say the next nearest bus route is too far away.

"That bus is three-and-a-half blocks away and I use a walker," McVeeters said. "A lot of us use a walker and that's a long walk for us."

Mann thinks the walk would be even worse in the winter.

"In the winter time, you take these type of people trying to carry groceries or push a cart, ... when you're 70, 80, 90 years old, that's a long push."

Both residents will be calling the city and asking officials to put the brakes on the plan.

On Thursday Mayor Don Iveson spoke in favour of the plan.

"We know we have overcrowding and on-time performance issues on some of our busiest routes and so I'm glad that city staff have brought forward a recommendation to reallocate about two per cent of our service from really low performing areas," he said.

 "It will have an effect on some people, we understand that.

"But when it's costing us $9.50 a ride to deliver service for less than 10 people per hour on some of these routes where we've got other people literally getting left at the curb on our busiest routes, I think it's a prudent decision financially."

Administration will present a report to council on Wednesday outlining the details of the proposal.