Wait-list is just the latest chapter in a series of GoBus booking issues, says rider
Buses must be booked days in advance to ensure a ride, says Bob Riche
A St. John's man who uses GoBus Accessible Transit to move around the city says an incoming waiting list for riders who want to use the service is just the latest in a series of problems.
Bob Riche, a retired teacher who recently started using a wheelchair, uses GoBus largely to travel to physical therapy appointments and to coach his high school basketball team.
He said the drivers who operate the buses are kind and accommodating, but a lack of drivers and management has made the system difficult to rely on.
"The ideal is that somewhere within a half an hour window I'll get picked up when I book the ride with GoBus. But it's often that I'm waiting half an hour after the window has closed or longer just to get a ride," Riche said Thursday.
"Then once I'm on the ride, sometimes it can be fairly quick and fairly direct. And other times … I might be an hour."
Because of the uncertainty of when he could be picked up, Riche says he often sets aside several hours in his schedule just to account for delays. In one instance, he said he set aside five hours to travel to Waterford Valley High School for a 90-minute basketball practice.
"When the system works as it's supposed to, I end up being there fairly early," he said.
"There's no way to get a bus if you think about something in the morning. You say, 'I'd like to go there this afternoon,' there's no chance. In my experience, there's absolutely no chance."
Riche has also booked physical therapy sessions for next week and is allotting one to two hours per day for the commute.
Booking a ride through the GoBus online system is often difficult, he said, and there are frequent technical issues. Riche said he often has to book a ride days in advance.
The GoBus wait-list is being implemented Sunday.
The wait-list is being made to balance the demand for GoBus and the number of available drivers, according to a letter from Metrobus, which operates the system in partnership with the City of St. John's.
CBC News asked Metrobus on Thursday for comment.
When asked about what a potential solution for improving the GoBus system could be, Riche suggested the system could be operated by a public enterprise, possibly the provincial government.
He said the bus was created to help people with disabilities or mobility issues navigate St. John's and Mount Pearl, and he believes that should be the priority over profits.
"It should be serving their needs first," he said. "But to try and make a buck off it when it's heavily government subsidized anyway, why not just put it all there so it's service-based first?"
Liberal MHA John Abbott, the minister responsible for the status of persons with disabilities, said the city hasn't asked for support of the system or to help address a lack of available bus drivers.
However, he did say government would be willing to help.
"For our part, if there's anything we can do [to] expedite the licensing of bus drivers and those kinds of things which fall within our domain, we will make sure we do that," he said.
"For us, we'll just have to observe and support them whatever way we can."
With files from On The Go