'It's not fair to these kids': Winnipeg mother fed up with Transit tardiness
Winnipeg Transit blames construction snags for long delays on No. 16 route
Amanda Desrochers was closely watching the Winnipeg Transit website last Thursday. She was at work, but her daughter was waiting for the No. 16 bus.
After an hour passed, Desrochers sent a neighbour to pick her daughter up.
"Always an issue with this bus," she said. "Some days it's on time. Other days, it could be half an hour to two hours late."
Desrochers' daughter goes to Shamrock School, on Boulevard Beaverhill in Southdale. She worries about the girl's safety, once the days start getting shorter.
"It's not fair for these kids to be sitting outside in the cold waiting for a bus that should have arrived on time."
Desrochers says Grade 7 and 8 students in the Louis Riel School Division aren't eligible for free school bus service, and buying a seat for her child would cost $900 a year. She says that's beyond her family's budget, so they rely on Winnipeg Transit.
She filed a formal complaint this week, calling on the city to make service more reliable. She found other parents on social media who'd made similar complaints, and says so far, nothing has happened.
Winnipeg Transit says traffic issues are to blame. It says Route 16 is a three-hour route, crossing through two big construction zones: at Fermor Avenue near the mint and on Graham Avenue downtown.
Winnipeg Transit spokesperson Alissa Clark said while "it's not ideal," the authority won't add more buses to Route 16, because of a lack of resources.
"We only add buses to a route when transit users are being passed by," she said, referring to over-capacity buses going past stops where people are waiting. "That's not the case here."
Meanwhile, Desrochers says the 16 was more than an hour late to her daughter's school again Thursday.
"Every day I text her around 3:30 to say, 'Let me know if the bus is late' so that I can find out what's happening and keep track of it."
Desrochers says the routine is getting old. She wants Winnipeg Transit to do a better job.
"Plan properly," she said. "It's Winnipeg, we have two seasons: winter and construction. Plan accordingly. Make it work."
