Whitehorse hopes to attract bus riders with new transit plan

The City of Whitehorse wants to get people out of their cars, and onto buses. To do that, the city hired a Sasha Pejcic to help create a transit plan.

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Pejcic is a consultant with Stantec, out of Toronto. After talking to people in the fall and analyzing bus routes, Pejcic came up with ways to make riding the bus more appealing.

Right now, he says 59 per cent of the people who ride the bus are commuting to and from work, and 24 per cent use it for personal shopping.

"There's an untapped market," said Pejcic, referring to Yukon College students.

"Right now the service, you know, it takes awhile to get to the campus."

He's recommending the city create a transit hub at Yukon College, and one at the Canada Games Centre.

This would make the routes more efficient, Pejcic says, adding the biggest complaint he's heard about the bus system is that buses are late and routes are inefficient.

"Right now the way the routing is structured, it's very circuitous and meandering," he said.

"It keeps people on the bus for longer than they probably want to be."

Pejcic is recommending more routes, shorter routes, and the addition of stops in Whistle Bend, Riverdale and the college.

Transit plan includes 'micro-transit'

Pejcic wants the city to start using technology, too. That includes a system where someone taps a card to pay their fare, and a tracking app so people know where their bus is.

He's also recommending cuts to Lobird and Raven's Ridge. But people in these areas wouldn't lose service. Instead, they would get "micro-transit."

That means a person in these neighbourhoods could call a driver and get picked up right at their door, and be driven to the closest transit hub to hop on a bus from there.

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And then, there's the marketing.

"We should be using bus stops to advertise for transit, to entice people into taking the bus," said Pejcic.

Cheri Malo is the manager of transit for the City of Whitehorse. She says the city considers people's feedback on the transit system, which has led to good ridership numbers.

New plan willtake at least a year

Some feedback that isn't being considered is bus service on Sunday. Pejcic says Whitehorse doesn't have the population or demand to consider that now.

Pejcic presented his transit plan to city council this week. Council will debate it and vote on it in the coming weeks.

Pejcic says it will take at least a year for the city to implement the plan.