Riders give mixed reviews of Sudbury's new transit system
Greater Sudbury's new transit system, GOVA, launched on Monday with mixed reviews from riders.
The name is derived from the English and French words for 'go'.
The city has been working towards reforming the transit system for two years and announced GOVA in July, saying that this new transit system will be more convenient for more people.
However, some residents are concerned that the changes made to transit is just making it harder for them to take the bus.
"This transit thing is just ridiculous, I have to take two busses now to go to work, so I have to catch a bus from my end of town to come all the way down here and then catch another to go all the way to work, they should have just kept all the busses the same," said Sudbury resident, Thomas Morrison.
Jesse Gislain-Therriault has been taking the bus from Coniston where he lives to his job in the south end for years. He says his bus ride is normally only about 40 minutes and he doesn't have to transfer, but with GOVA, that's changed.
"So now I have to catch the bus at 5:30 a.m. it goes to New Sudbury Shopping Centre, then from the New Sudbury Shopping Centre it goes to the Walmart and then to here, which will take roughly an hour and 45 minutes or maybe a little longer," said Gislain-Therriault.
There have also been complaints from residents in Lively, said Michelle Ferrigan, the director of transit services.
Those stem from moving or removing bus stops in some areas.
Gislain-Therriault said he now has to walk about 20 minutes to get to his new bus stop.
"There are certainly some people that are seeing some bus stops being moved and probably not pleased about it but once they see and get to the system, they'll see that there's a lot of really good things about this network," said Ferrigan.
Ferrigan said anyone with complaints or solutions to an issue they see can go to GOVAtransit.ca and share the information.
She said the city will review all information and decide if any changes need to be made.
However, some people like GOVA.
"I feel like with all of the new connections and stuff like that, it's going to be a lot easier to navigate around the city," said Danielle Cecchini.
"Honestly I feel like it's a lot better than the previous, because of the previous system there was a lot of connections that I couldn't make before, so far it's been pretty good, I like it, I have heard a lot of complaints but I haven't experienced that myself."