Survey says public transit not a priority for Hatters

By Gillian Slade on September 2, 2017.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

The Financially Fit public survey showed public transit ranked very low on the priority list of the majority of Hatters, the City has said.

July 2016 it was revealed 3,000 people had completed the public survey and most did not rank cultural and social services, transit, and senior services, very high according to a News story at the time. Public services committee chair Coun. Julie Friesen said, at the time, that it was “disappointing, but not surprising” that items such as social services were ranked lower than other more tangible programs.

“They’re not so black and white,” Friesen said in the News at the time. “Unless you use transit, transit might not be a big issue for you, but it’s absolutely an important part of having a healthy, functioning city.”

Susan Spicer, whose daughter Kaytlyn has special needs, depends on transit every day of the week to reach volunteer jobs that give her a sense of inclusion, independence, and self-confidence.

Spicer is curious about those 3,000 surveys and what percentage were completed by people such as her daughter and other transit users. If you are driving around in your SUV to where you need to go it is not surprising you would rank public transit as a very low priority for tax dollars, she said.

“How much help did they give senior citizens or the crowd from REDI (enterprises) to fill that (the surveys) in? None,” said Dave Marshall, who uses public transit everyday to go to and from work, and has done so for years.

Recently he has heard seniors on the bus discussing they will no longer be able to go to bingo because of changes to transit.

“Or just once a month when we can afford a taxi,” said Marshall of what he has heard.

Marshall noticed the public’s reaction to a News story this week about the parks department cutting costs by removing shrubs and not replacing underground watering systems for the grass.

A public survey of readers by the News showed 75 per cent did not think this approach was satisfactory – they wanted green grass and shrubs.

“So let’s keep our green spaces and flower beds but neglect the most vulnerable people in Medicine Hat, seniors and those with disabilities,” said Marshall.

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