Every morning, like so many others in Dawson Creek, I rely on our local transit system to get to work. The bus is more than just a means of transportation—it's a vital lifeline for accessing employment, volunteering, medical appointments, running errands, and visiting family and friends. 

In late 2019, the current city council at the time voted to reduce the transit budget, this resulted in a 60% reduction in service. Our former transit system had 3 buses running 6 days a week from as early as 7am to 8pm, This reduction in service has led to some residents moving away from the community to communities with better public transportation systems. 

The major issue many in our community is the service gap in the middle of the day. Buses run from 7:20 am to 10:30 am and then restart at 1:20 pm leaving many stranded or relying on taxis to get home. Most of the transit users are either seniors, low income individuals or persons with disabilities. These people can't afford to use taxis, or in some cases taxi's are inaccessible as there is only 1 wheelchair accessible cab in the entire city of about 12,000 

Another concern is the lack of evening and weekend service. We currently don't have bus service after 5pm and zero service on weekends. Many individuals work later than 4pm, and on Saturdays and used to rely on the bus. Monthly passes cost $56, however we are also shelling out extra money to taxi companies because of the lack of transit.

The city seems to prioritizing transit primarily for students of the local schools as they schedule the buses around the school schedules, rather than providing an adequate transit service for our community. 

We're calling on the City of Dawson Creek to look into gradually restoring our transit system