Surveys, in-person interviews, and open houses show users of public transit in Brandon are, in general, satisfied with the service they’re getting. That doesn’t mean they aren’t looking to see improvements, however.
The City of Brandon has put out the results of their public consultation as they try to develop a long-term strategy for transit in the city. Overall, 71 percent of respondents to their survey said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the service they were getting, but they had some suggestions on improvements.
Most commonly, 50.8 percent of those surveyed said they want an increase in frequency of the busses on existing routes. More stop locations, a live tracking system for those waiting for busses, and more bus shelters and bicycle racks were also among desired changes.
Following the survey, the city held open houses in May to let transit users have their say. The results of this open house showed busses were perceived as old or unclean, and often running late. Here again, the opportunity to track busses in real time was a service users said they wanted access to.
The good news was, most people saw the fares as being affordable and the drivers as being friendly and helpful. Less encouraging was the perception of busses as being constantly late, and some busses being so full they would have to leave people behind.
One concern that emerged during stakeholder interviews was many immigrants to Canada were having trouble finding housing near Brandon’s transit routes. Interviews also revealed Assiniboine Community College students relying on transit were often late to class due to late busses and overcrowding.
The city said in a Facebook post 633 people responded to their survey, while 255 people attended the open houses. They added there would be more “community engagement opportunities” coming up.
