Dear Editor,
[Re: Mayor applauds TransLinks' investment plan, The News, May 9]
I am glad to hear that TransLink has an investment plan. I am not sure if it will help the students of Thomas Haney Secondary School (THSS) with their wet jackets and soaked backpacks! The school has been without a bench or a bus shelter since the inception of this transit line. How do young students, who are future citizens, form any kind of positive attitude towards public transportation if the only bus stop that serves their school has no bench or shelter?
Has Mayor Ruimy or those on the board of TransLink every tried to catch a bus in Maple Ridge during a rainy day? Have any of them seen the adults and teens and children who have to sit on the grass outside of the A&W on 227 Street waiting for a bus because there is no bench ? Have they seen the groups of people hunkered down on concrete dividers at the Haney bus loop waiting for a bus? These are only three examples in a small area of Maple Ridge.
While throwing all their weight behind more and more rapid transit (still haven't heard the word SkyTrain) is laudable, we need basic necessities for the average transit rider. For example a bench, and a shelter.
Until the TransLink group and the Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation gets serious about making public transit in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows attractive and convenient, ridership will stay low. There is no excuse for such a poorly equipped local transit system.
Expanding road widths, and adding more R-3 type buses are all just Band-Aids for an ever-growing population. If Maple Ridge keeps approving large residential buildings and communities, we will become Gridlock Ridge in five years. We need to start the plan for a SkyTrain expansion now, not in five years.
But before that, can the students of THSS get a bench and a shelter from the rain?
Tim Suddaby, Maple Ridge
