Quispamsis Asked To Review Comex Changes

Recent changes to Comex have made the weekday transit service inconvenient for many users, according to one local resident.

Zach Richard used to bike to one of the many stops in the Kennebecasis Valley and take the first bus into town, which arrived at King’s Square at 7:05 a.m.

“With the new changes, I must cycle over an hour to work every day. It’s very tiring, very draining on the body,” Richard told Quispamsis council on Tuesday night.

Earlier this month, the 53 Quispamsis Comex was scrapped and replaced with extra stops on the 52 KV Comex, which serves both Rothesay and Quispamsis.

The changes saw the number of morning runs reduced to two from three and the number of afternoon runs cut to two from four.

“With the old schedule, the first bus arrived uptown at 7:05 a.m. and gave regular commuters, most of which start work around 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m., time to catch a connection bus uptown,” said Richard.

Now, the first bus arrives in Saint John at 7:40 a.m., followed by the second run 70 minutes later at 8:50 a.m.

Richard said the issues commuters are having are not with the merging of the two routes, but rather than times in which they arrive in the city.

“With the first Comex route not arriving until 7:40 a.m., it makes it very difficult for people to try and catch a connecting bus to get anywhere else in the city.”

Richard said he believes increased Comex service would be better suited for the community and would attract students and seniors, not just those working in the city.

He also expressed concern about the fact riders were only made aware of the changes about two-and-a-half weeks before they took effect.

“The sudden change was a bit of a shock to the people who rely on the service daily,” said Richard. “We kind of didn’t know what to do when everything was changing all at once.”

The changes were made amid declining ridership numbers on the weekday transit run, partly due to COVID-19.

Coun. Kirk Miller, who serves on the Comex committee, said noted that some of the runs only had a handful of people on them before the changes were made.

Miller said the town needs more data to determine whether the new routes are right for users.

With the new schedule, he said staff took the top two morning routes — at 8:15 a.m. and 9:25 a.m. — and moved them ahead by 35 minutes to try and capture as many users as possible.

“Did we move them too much or far enough?” said Miller. “I’ve heard anecdotally some people say ‘well now that bus is getting in too early for me, I don’t want to be there that early.'”

“What we need to know is why people take the bus and what times are best.”

In addressing the short notice about the changes, Miller said Quispamsis approached the Saint John Transit Commission in February and asked them to announce the change in March or April.

Council passed a motion to continue evaluating the impacts of the recent changes.