'I can't do this': Guelph councillor fails challenge to take transit for 1 week

Guelph resident Sian Matwey challenged city councillors to take the bus this week during a busy schedule of budget meetings. ByTuesday, onecouncillorhadtried and failed.

On Tuesday, GuelphCoun. PhilAlltwrote a Facebook post admitting defeat.

"This being council budget season has meant I cannot realistically do that as I have to be in too many places," Allt wrote.

Matwey issued the challenge to councillors and said she specifically wanted them to do it this week because it's been so cold.

"If you're waiting for a bus and you happen to miss it or one of the buses cancelled because of the lack of a driver then you're standing outside in this freezing cold weather," she said, noting not all stops have bus shelters and even those that do don't offer much protection.

She also said she's not surprised Allt failed.

"The reason he failed is because he can't get from here to there, but that's the whole point of the transit challenge," she said. "Everyone else has to do that so, if our bus doesn't come, then we're late for work or we miss an appointment."

Silver lining

She said two other councillors responded to her challengebut said they couldn't take part. She didn't hear from the mayor or other councillors.

In an interview, Allt saidthere was a silver lining to the experience.

"One of the reasons is for exactly what we're doing right now speaking about this," he said.

"Had I taken the challenge that I intended to, and just carried it through, it would have been a personal endeavour, which would likely have not attracted any attention at all," he added.

"But as a consequence of actually stating, 'I can't do this' ... a) because of my schedule and b) because of the weather and c) because we need to sort out some of deficiencies in our transit system, I've been able to promote it more widely."

'They aren't pro-transit'

Trevor Price is legally blind and uses transit to get around Guelph.

He's a member of the group Transit Action Alliance of Guelph and says, in his experience over the last 10 years, the service has deteriorated.

He says he believes council needs to do a challenge like the one Matwey proposed so they can understand what residents are experiencing.

"Our city council, a lot of them, they aren't pro-transit, and they don't understand the impacts of having a lacking transit system," he said.

Route review recommended

Guelph recently completed a transit service review. It found 69 per cent of those surveyed by Guelph Transit indicated overall satisfaction with the service. The report also found ridership has remained steady for the last three years.

But the report also made 12 recommendations on how to improve the service. It includes doing a route review.

Allt says he'll take his experience of failing the transit challenge to the council table as they discuss how to improve the service.

"Transit is going to evolve. It has to be looked at as a living, dynamic system," he said. "There's going to be a constant shifting of priorities as the city grows. And the city's growing far more quickly than it ever has."