Flag Bus woes Pickering senior collects signatures in hopes of extending bus route hours:
After a number of Doris Madder's friends and neighbours at the seniors' residence on St. Martin's Drive complained to her about the reduced hours of Flag Bus 3 (Flag 3), in Pickering, she decided to do something about it.
"People just sit back and do nothing," she said.
Ms. Madder, who helped bring the Flag Bus (a small, accessible bus with a regular route) service to Pickering in the first place, has collected more than 160 signatures from seniors who live along the route, and plans to present them to the Region. At the beginning of January, along with cuts to other routes, Durham Region Transit reduced the Flag 3 route hours by about an hour at the beginning of the day and at the end. The bus begins its route at 10:30 a.m. and finishes around 4:30 p.m. The first stop it makes at St. Martin's Drive each day is at 11:10 a.m. and the last at 4:10 p.m.
"People just have got to rush around in the hours they're giving," Ms. Madder said.
She explained a lot of seniors she talks to like to get out in the mornings for appointments and to run errands, and said a trip to the Pickering Town Centre ends up costing $7 or $8 in a taxi. Also, since it stops running around 4 p.m., seniors have a tough time getting to their night meetings at the Rouge Hill Senior's Club, for example.
"I don't think we're really asking for too much," she said. "We're not asking for the moon or anything." She believes seniors are often overlooked on these issues.
Phil Meagher, DRT's deputy general manager, said the transit agency has a very large area to provide service to and has to decide how to run the service effectively and efficiently. DRT looks at all bus routes, and receives reports for each on a monthly basis. Included in the reports are spot checks and information collected through the electronic fare boxes. He said the times were reduced on Flag 3 because reports showed few people used it in the mornings.
"We were running around almost empty," he said, adding since the service was reduced, the transit department has only received one complaint.
He noted a lot of people will sign petitions, even if they don't use the service.
Ward 2 Regional Councillor Bill McLean has tried to call Ms. Madder to hear her concerns, but hasn't been able to reach her.
"We certainly do have to make sure our seniors are mobile because if they're mobile, they're more functional and there's nothing worse than having cabin fever," he said.
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