Fredericton councillor explores constituents' transit concerns one bus ride at a time

A Fredericton city councillor is ditching her drivers licence for a bus ticket, with the goal of learning what works well and what doesn't with the city's public transit system.

Cassandra LeBlanc is on what she calls a "journey" to gain a better appreciation of the challenges of using Fredericton Transit, and to document her experience for an online audience.

"I think it's really important for citizens of Fredericton to see their elected officials actively trying to understand their lived experience," said LeBlanc, a councillor in Ward 10.

"I also want to help city hall understand what's working and what's not. You know, it's great to do surveys and consultations with the community, but we all know that there's nothing like experiencing something for yourself.

"And I think that me having that lived experience and that personal experience with Fredericton Transit, I'll be able to very well articulate to the staff and my colleagues at city hall what's going right and what's going wrong."

LeBlanc's decision to ride the bus began earlier this year when she sold her car because it was getting old and requiring more and more expensive repairs.

Living and working downtown, LeBlanc decided she could do without a car, being able to walk to both her full-time job, and to city hall for council meetings.

But to get to some appointments and meetings, LeBlanc still needed wheels, and so she decided to turn the necessity to ride the bus into an opportunity to observe how the system works, and showcase her experience.

She's been using the bus about twice a week for a month now, and with most of her trips, she uploads a video afterwards describing her experience.

Some of her trips have highlighted technological improvements, including the point-of-sale terminals that are now on each bus, which allow passengers to use bank cards instead of cash.

Others postings have highlighted the sore points, such as infrequent service, seemingly inefficient routes, and bus stop infrastructure that raises questions about how accessible the transit service really is.

In one instance, LeBlanc wanted to go from the intersection of Hanwell Road and Prospect Street to the downtown, and used the Google Maps app on her smartphone to find the nearest bus stop.

"It took me to a bus stop with no sidewalk," she said.

"It was a four-lane highway situation and and I immediately thought, 'Well, this kind of works right now in the summer/fall time when there's no snow on the ground, but as soon as there's snow on the ground, it's going to be very difficult for people to get to this bus stop.'"