News BriefsNews Briefs
Boots are made for walking, so use them
Western students, be prepared to get up early or put on your running shoes. Getting to class on time may be harder, thanks to the London Transit Commission’s reduced service.
As of Monday, several bus routes began operating at “exam levels” due to a further withdrawal of services by bus drivers.
These include the 2C Dundas, 6A Richmond, 10A Wonderland and 10B Wonderland.
Full details about the “exam levels” can be found on route legends. This reduced service will likely result in crowded buses, service delays and extended travel time, particularly during peak periods.
Dan Moulton, vice-president university affairs for the University Students’ Council, said line-ups and delays are better than having no buses at all.
“Since the beginning, we’ve been emphasizing that the bottom line for us is that students still have a way to get to campus,” Moulton said.
Negotiations between the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 471 and the LTC are confidential, he added, so students and the USC will have to wait for the outcome.
More details on reduced service and changes to the bus schedules can be found at www.ltconline.ca.
—Lauren Pelley
The webwatch is also becoming a bigger issue for me. Since I have internet on my phone, I can check the webwatch to see if a bus is supposed to be coming… unless of course, the webwatch is inaccurate about reporting the correct arrival times of buses. At that point, we can’t even expect to use a cab since we’re constantly wondering “is the scheduled bus going to actually show up?”
How else are we supposed to know which bus we will be able to catch (even catching an earlier bus than we are used to to ensure that we arrive to our destination on time) when all the schedules are wrong? Is it just a guessing game now?
…line-ups and delays are better than having no buses at all…
Take the Richmond 6 route on Sunday Nov 1, 9-10pm, for example. LTCs webwatch system showed the 9:25 and 9:55 buses being on time. Then the 9:25 run disappeared. While waiting, hopefully, for it, I saw two 9C Whitehills (which is interlined with 6 at that time) depart. Then the 9:55 bus doesn’t show up in the metal or on the NatSci digital arrival board. As I get on a 2 Dundas to get part way home via LTC the next 6 shows up on the digital board to arrive 30 minutes into the future.
Did two buses break down?
Did LTC schedule “overtime” into the 9C-6 interlined route?
What happened? Why were people left waiting in the cold for an hour during the already low-frequency Sunday schedule?
I missed getting home in time to check whether LTC’s webwatch showed the 10:17 bus as present or disappeared. Do you know?