City adjusting transit routes

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on August 22, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber A bus waits for passengers on Monday at the downtown transit terminal. The City is adjusting several routes.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Public transit never existed when Benjamin Franklin was alive, otherwise he may have said “nothing is certain except death and taxes, and changing bus routes.”

Although the City tries to avoid making changes to its bus routes too often, it’s unavoidable in a constantly growing city.

“As part of Lethbridge Transit’s continuous improvement process, this week we’re implementing a couple key changes based on feedback from our riders, operators and our data, to help meet customer needs and improve reliability, schedule adherence and the usability of the system,” Joel McDonald, manager of innovation and planning with Lethbridge Transit, said Monday at City Hall.

As of Monday expanded levels of on-demand service were introduced to the Southridge subdivision just north of the airport, and the lower level of Paradise Canyon, two communities which previously did not have any transit service.

“We’ve also made some additional changes to the on-demand service on the westside to help decrease trip times and increase availability by focusing on bringing customers to the main hub located at West Highlands Station and Sunridge Station,” McDonald said.

Route 51 is scheduled to change Wednesday, and buses will travel along Jerry Potts Blvd, Metis Trial and Garry Drive. There will be two new stops on Jerry Potts Blvd, two on Metis Trail, and four along Garry Drive. The stop at Red Crow Blvd and Salish Place, will no longer be provided, however.

McDonald pointed out the new service will provide 35-minute service to three large living complexes, including two seniors’ residences, which previously only had access to on-demand service.

“Our goal is to constantly grow transit as the city grows, by finding new ways to better serve our customers, better serve the community and provide reliable, dependable service.”

That means checking with riders to see what they expect from public transit. McDonald said constant improvement means the city is always looking for feedback, new ideas and new ways to improve service and coverage.

“With the on-demand service, we now have coverage to almost a hundred per cent of all the residential communities in the City of Lethbridge, again mentioning Paradise Canyon and Southridge, being two new additions that have never had transit service before.”

McDonald said the city tries to wait to make any major route or scheduling changes until August before school starts up again and when ridership is relatively low and changes will have the least impact.

“We don’t look to do these major changes on a regular basis, but it is based on customer feedback, based on ridership data to determine when we need to make these changes.”

McDonald advises residents to expect some disruptions to transit routes during the parade today, and encourages riders to check Lethbridge Transit’s news page for announced detours. The detours will be in effect from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. Additional details about the announced route changes are also available online.

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