To the Editor,
Re: Minor changes to bus schedule, Sept. 1.
May I suggest that major changes are what are needed and that those in charge of scheduling need to be summarily fired.
I regularly use the ferry to attend medical appointments in Vancouver.
There’s a joke about the ferry shuttle, the mythical bus, whose rear is generally seen leaving frustrated foot passengers in its dust, is scheduled to leave for downtown two minutes after the ferry docks.
Earlier this month I disembarked and was at the head of the line, however I had to move as quickly as I could to meet the ferry shuttle. I am 76 years of age and suffer from exercise-induced asthma. As I reached the terminal exit, the bus was pulling in and breathless, I was able to board with two other passengers. We sat for approximately three minutes and then the bus set out, leaving behind 150 or more foot passengers, many of whom I’m sure would not have pickups arranged.
There were many people behind me, obviously tourists, who did not make the mythic ferry shuttle, the very last that day.
Another passenger on my bus said that as he exited the terminal the only other alternative bus had just taken off with no regard to the fact that a ferry had just arrived.
Three weeks before, I caught the last ferry from Horseshoe Bay (which was on time), only to arrive at the bus stop and realize that the last bus had left three minutes after the ferry docked. This means the bus driver watched the ferry dock and decided his schedule was more important than people. There were 10-15 people stranded, with the only alternative taxi, in my case $22 to get me to the Southgate Mall area.
When I am left stranded with an unnecessary taxi fare, I am extremely angry at the incompetence of this scheduling.
Stewart LoganNanaimo