I have used Guelph Transit for over 30 years, and during that time there have been many changes to the system. I am now a senior who uses a cane to assist my mobility. I have encountered a number of issues that have made getting around the city on buses something of a challenge:
• large strollers taking up handicap/senior seating. If there are two strollers on the bus at the same time, I end up sitting halfway down the bus
• inconsiderate youth who are sitting in the priority seating and are oblivious to everything around them
• people who use strollers don’t restore the seat to its original downright position when they leave the bus. I have a disability  in one arm and am not physically able to lift the lever that is required to drop the seat down
• bus drivers who seem to be oblivious to the needs of their passengers, as I have never had one bus driver ask a student to vacate a handicap/senior seat when I get on.  Nor have they offered to assist in the lowering of the seat when it has been left up.
And now, the new schedules and routes have only increased the number of negative issues that I now have to surmount in order to get around.
Probably one of the biggest issues is buses leaving before all the buses have arrived at the square for transfer. This is not an improvement in service. Why are the buses not all leaving at the same time as they have always done in the past?
I was on time for my bus; why can my bus not be on time for me? After a troublesome trip to my destination this week, I chose to call a cab for my return trip home, because I did not want to be left standing out in the cold again waiting for a bus that won’t show up on time.
The bus that used to take me to the Zehrs on Eramosa no longer goes there. I now have to walk down the hill, which in winter can be extremely slippery. I could stay on the bus for another 10 to 12 minutes and get off across the street from Zehrs and then cross over, but that is certainly not the service we once had.
I also take the Stone Road Mall bus for physiotherapy. My appointment is early in the morning, so I have to compete with high school students for a seat on the bus.
Where there used to be three buses to the Stone Road Mall, there is now only one.  Again, I fail to see where this is any kind of improvement.
It is also not an improvement to have a schedule that changes four or five times throughout the day. Twenty-minute service throughout the day was perfect in so many ways. Now, I have to carry schedules with me in order to manage my appointments and hopefully, if the bus doesn’t leave early, get to them on time.
Unfortunately, I don’t have another option to transit, so I guess I am just going to have to suck it up and deal with it, but I don’t have to like it!
Marlene Siverns   Guelph