After a local organization challenged Regina’s elected officials, several councillors accepted the challenge.
The Regina Citizens Public Transit Coalition (RCPTC) issued the challenge last week, calling on elected leaders to use transit to get around the city for 48 hours.
The purpose of the challenge was to familiarize city leadership with the “joys and woes” of transit, something Councillor Cheryl Stadnichuk experienced when she took part in the challenge Wednesday through Friday of last week.
She said she noticed many positives about the city’s transit system.
“Every time I took the bus, the buses were basically on time. If you know what time the bus is to be at a particular spot, there pretty prompt in terms of getting to the bus stop at the right time.”
She added that other positives for her included that it didn’t take much time to get downtown.
Though Stadnichuk called her overall experience positive, she did notice some ways it could be improved.
“For people who have to travel in the evening, the buses don’t run as frequently, so that is a bit of a challenge, she said. “I think we do need to think about the evening routes, and also, I think we could improve on the transit information.”
She noted while the city’s Transit Live app proved useful, it could see improvements.
Overall, Stadnichuk believes taking part in the challenge will help her with future decision-making when it comes to transit.
“I think transit is so important as a way of getting around any city,” she said. “I do see that it’s really important that councillors have a sense of what it is like to take public transit in the city. If we are going to be looking at reports, talking about how to improve transit, I think it’s fairly important to be able to understand what it’s like to be a user.”
She added that taking part in the challenge also allows her to use her experiences when understanding the implications of policies.
