FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. -- Two City Councillors in Fort St. John took the transit challenge. It started earlier this month when the mayor of Dawson Creek declined to ride the bus for a month. However, both Trevor Bolin and Tony Zabinsky thought it was a great idea.
“What I tried to do was figure out how I could make it work in my life. So make it work for my meeting and things like that,” says Bolin.
The two councillors have been riding transit for two weeks. Bolin aimed to take the bus everywhere, but he did use his car at times. As for Zabinsky, it's been bus only for 14 days.
“Sometimes when you want to catch the bus early in the morning, you beat the snowplow,” says Zabinsky.
The two set out to find flaws in the system, and they did.
“Trying to figure out the connectivity, I think was the biggest thing, right is how could I if I had to go grocery shopping, if I was to meet a friend, if I was to go to a meeting or go to work? How easily could I do that?” says Bolin.
“It'd be nice that if you got to the bus stop, and you're able to have a QR code or something where you could access and say, oh, the next bus is coming in 45 minutes,” says Zabinsky.
As well, the two suggest a map of the route at the bus stop, addressing safety when getting off the bus, and students struggling to get to school. Even though there are some flaws, Bolin and Zapinsky say the transit system feels user-friendly. Bolin is taking his findings to City Council with expectations of improving the system.
“As a bus user, not as a Councillor, not as a business guy, as an actual bus user, somebody who took advantage of the system and it's a good system. Here's where we could maybe make improvements,” says Bolin.
As for Zabinsky, he says despite the snow and freezing temperatures, he'll continue the challenge for 2 more weeks.
