To the editor:
Use it or lose it. How about: Build it and they will come.
I have three teenagers in the house who are working in or near Orchard Park and have found the bus schedule to be almost useless for getting them home from work.
First, I would like to point out we have an Okanagan Sun (football player) living with us who stayed in town to work, train and ski in the off-season and we assured him not having a car would not be a problem as there was a bus near our house. That was in October and that was when we began to realize how poor the schedule is.
The other two started working in December and that was when our nightmare began.
Orchard Park closes at 9 p.m. Wednesday to Friday. The #7 bus to North Glenmore leaves at 8:42 and there’s not another until 10:47 p.m! The #10 leaves at 8:45 and then 9:51, so 9:51 is the only option transferring downtown to get them home at 10:37!
This is a 15 minute car ride so of course we go get them. Some days between picking up from KSS and work we make eight to 10 trips back and forth and our billet has become dependant on us for rides to just about everywhere.
We got passes for the KSS trip but because they were so useless the rest of the time we gave up. The schedule also does not work for teens who want to be out on a Friday or Saturday night. The waits are just too long so no one uses it.
The kids can only have one passenger in their car so the amount of cars on the road is way up.
If the system actually worked we would purchase passes—that would bring in $1,512 a year just from our house.
In a time when we are being encouraged to “Go Green” the Kelowna Transit scheduling has made it almost impossible.
Denise Swabey,
Kelowna
