Fredericton councillor explores constituents' transit concerns one bus ride at a time

A Fredericton city councillor is ditching her drivers licence for a bus ticket, with the goal of learning what works well and what doesn't with the city's public transit system.

Cassandra LeBlanc is on what she calls a "journey" to gain a better appreciation of the challenges of using Fredericton Transit, and to document her experience for an online audience.

"I think it's really important for citizens of Fredericton to see their elected officials actively trying to understand their lived experience," said LeBlanc, a councillor in Ward 10.

"I also want to help city hall understand what's working and what's not. You know, it's great to do surveys and consultations with the community, but we all know that there's nothing like experiencing something for yourself.

"And I think that me having that lived experience and that personal experience with Fredericton Transit, I'll be able to very well articulate to the staff and my colleagues at city hall what's going right and what's going wrong."

LeBlanc's decision to ride the bus began earlier this year when she sold her car because it was getting old and requiring more and more expensive repairs.

Living and working downtown, LeBlanc decided she could do without a car, being able to walk to both her full-time job, and to city hall for council meetings.

But to get to some appointments and meetings, LeBlanc still needed wheels, and so she decided to turn the necessity to ride the bus into an opportunity to observe how the system works, and showcase her experience.

She's been using the bus about twice a week for a month now, and with most of her trips, she uploads a video afterwards describing her experience.

Some of her trips have highlighted technological improvements, including the point-of-sale terminals that are now on each bus, which allow passengers to use bank cards instead of cash.

Others postings have highlighted the sore points, such as infrequent service, seemingly inefficient routes, and bus stop infrastructure that raises questions about how accessible the transit service really is.

In one instance, LeBlanc wanted to go from the intersection of Hanwell Road and Prospect Street to the downtown, and used the Google Maps app on her smartphone to find the nearest bus stop.

"It took me to a bus stop with no sidewalk," she said.

"It was a four-lane highway situation and and I immediately thought, 'Well, this kind of works right now in the summer/fall time when there's no snow on the ground, but as soon as there's snow on the ground, it's going to be very difficult for people to get to this bus stop.'"

Transit not practical option for transit manager

The City of Fredericton hired Charlene Sharpe to head its transit and parking division in spring 2022, and she quickly got to work on efforts to implement new technology such as passenger counters, real-time bus trackers, and audio-visual announcements for stops.

Most recently, she brought before council a proposal that will result in the long-awaited introduction of Sunday service — so long as councillors give final approval for it at Monday's council meeting.

While Sharpe agrees with LeBlanc on the importance of city officials using transit, she doesn't rely on the bus to get to and from work because of a feature of the system that makes it impractical for many residents.

Sharpe lives and works in different parts of the city's north side. With the current route network, she would need to take a bus from her home to Kings Place Mall — the city's only transit hub — on the south side, get off the bus, and then get on another one to take her to her office on the north side.

The trip, which takes her about three minutes by car, would take her 40 minutes each way if she were to use the bus.

"Those are things that we look at, and I know that's what discourages a lot of people from stepping away from their vehicles, and that is our goal … to take a look at issues like that," Sharpe said.

She hopes to bring forward a potential solution for that problem — which transit users have complained about for years — to the city's mobility committee in January.

Transit use a matter of personal preference: councillor

Coun. Bruce Grandy, chair of the mobility committee, said he commends LeBlanc for taking the initiative to deepen her understanding of issues related to Fredericton Transit.

He said he's ridden the bus in the past, but doesn't currently use it regularly.

Asked whether he thinks there's value in city officials regularly using the transit system themselves, Grandy said that choice comes down to personal preference.

He said he and staff are already aware of many of the challenges plaguing transit users, and are working to address them, including a possible north-side hub at some point in the future.

And if transit users have issues with the service, he said those concerns often get fed back to city hall by the men and women driving the buses.