KT would benefit from improvements

This letter is in response to your Jan. 17 front-page interview with Kings Transit manager Ron Mullins and the Page 6 editorial, also concerning Kings Transit service in West Hants.

Traffic on the new service, especially east of Windsor, has, as you have noted, been quite thin.

I agree with the need to consult users of the service about their needs. It would also help Ron Mullins, new manager of Kings Transit, if a study could be initiated with input from other long established transit systems in the Maritimes. Such as suburban studies by HRM's

Metro Transit.

As former president of the consumer transport advocacy group Transport 2000, I have made some suggestions about improvements to the service that could address the key goal of increased ridership. I would encourage others in West Hants, Windsor, and Hantsport who value the service to write the Hants Journal with their positive suggestions and send copies to elected representatives and to Mr. Mullins.

Here are some ideas:

1. The fare levels of $3 ($1.80 seniors) are a great bargain for up to 100 miles (160 km) of travel as far west as Digby and Weymouth. This includes trips to Wolfville (Acadia), New Minas malls, Kentville hospital, Greenwood airbase and beyond. Fares should be kept low.

2. In order to encourage first time travellers, a free coupon might be included in the next few issues of the Hants Journal and other local weekly papers/newsletters, with a new publicity program.

3. The original schedules were far too fast, resulting in late running, and have wisely been altered to allow on-time performance even during winter storms and road construction. This also allows drivers short breaks for washrooms, lunch, and a short rest. It is unfortunate that

this ended the hourly schedules, and buses now run only every second hour, requiring riders to consult schedules carefully.

4. One improvement would be to revise the Saturday schedules to run at the same hours as Monday to Friday. Currently, they are on opposite hours creating unnecessary confusion.

5. The new (Oct.9) schedules leave extra time in the two-hour round trips between Brooklyn and Windsor and Windsor and Just Us Coffee at the Kings County border just past the Gaspereau River. This extra time could be used to better serve the growing Falmouth area of over 1,000 people -- via Town Road and Falmouth Dyke Road and also (as already petitioned) the Manning Seniors Residence and Kings College School on College Road in Windsor. Buses could also serve the West Hants Industrial Park near Windsor and Avon View Senior High at least in late afternoon to serve students taking part in extra-curricular activities.

6. I disagree with the Hants Journal editorial and some elected officials that service should be terminated within a year if traffic does not grow fast enough. Experience in the Valley and elsewhere suggests (as manager Mullins states) that traffic may take several years to grow to serve satisfactory numbers of seniors, students, handicapped,

and low income people. With several cars in most driveways now, a decision not to invest in a new vehicle (at an all-inclusive cost of $8,000-$10,000 per year says CAA) may take several years.

7. A “fall-back” position (which I do NOT think I can support) could be to extend the Windsor-Hantsport-Kings Border two-hourly service east via Highway 1 to Garland Crossing (only) and convert service east of there (Ste.

Croix-Ellershouse-Brooklyn) to a dial-a-ride for all customers. This latter service could be run in connection with the current “West Hants Dial-a-Ride” bus already giving accessible service in the West Hants area and would broaden its scope to serving any needy passengers. It would connect in Windsor to westbound service to Kings County and west as Kings Transit does now.

8. The Jan. 17 editorial is right in recommending more consultation and education. Local meetings arranged by health and social service organizations, church, school and other community groups should be stressed. Having ridden all of the Kings Transit services through to Digby and Weymouth, I can testify to the independence, convenience and value so many varied individuals gain from the award-winning Kings Transit service.

Again, I remind readers to send ideas to news media, elected officials, and transit staff, and support the service yourself. Take a recreational ride. It's fun!!

John Pearce,

Brooklyn