Winston Roy, who uses both canes to walk, says he has trouble travelling by bus because of the changes made to the No. 16 route.
For many Centretown residents, a bus trip to the hospital has tripled in time, tripled in distance, and tripled in the number of buses that need to be taken.
Before the route was changed in September, a trip on the No. 16 bus from downtown to the Ottawa Hospital took 15 minutes. Now, the same trip takes at least 45 minutes and involves three buses and two transfers, say riders.
Winston Roy and his wife had relied on the No. 16 bus route for more than 20 years to take them from their home on Lees Avenue to the Byward Market weekly and to the hospital several times a month for check-ups and blood work.
Now 70, Roy is disabled and needs two canes to walk. Never having owned a car, Roy says the No. 16 bus change has had a huge impact on his life. What was once an easy trip now has become incredibly exhausting, he says.
“It takes me a lot longer to walk anywhere, anything beyond three or four blocks becomes a great difficulty,” Roy says. “(Taking the bus) is now a complicated and long process. What used to be a simple task is now ridiculous.”
Capital Coun. David Chernushenko says the route was cut because of lack of use.
The No. 16 route used to pass through the north end of Centretown en route to Sandy Hill and eventually to the General campus of the Ottawa Hospital on Smyth Road.
According to OC Transpo, about 500 people a day took the route to the hospital. Cutting this portion of the route will amount to annual savings of $577,000.
“If you spread 500 people over the day, that’s not a lot of people on the bus,” Chernushenko says.
But he acknowledges how important the route was for downtown residents who did use it.
In response to complaints, OC Transpo has extended the No. 5 bus route to the hospital twice daily, in the morning and early afternoon.
But members of the Ottawa East Community Association say these new routes are inadequate. The group has been fighting to have the old route reinstated.
Ron Rose, who heads the group’s transit committee, says he believes the new special No. 5 routes were chosen at times that accommodate the bus system, and not riders. He says the special trips do not co-ordinate with early morning appointments, visiting hours (which start after 3 p.m.), or shift changes for hospital staff.
“The need to get to the hospital on a regular and reliable basis is becoming more and more important,” he says.
Rose says his group is hoping to meet with the city’s pedestrian and transit advisory committee in February in hopes that changes will be made for April.
Chernushenko says he doesn’t foresee major changes this spring, but he will fight to get more direct runs to the hospital at better times.
But Roy says any slight changes aren’t likely to help much.
“You can’t make an appointment with your doctor based on the bus,” he says. “He’s not going to ask you what time the bus is running.”