The Editor:
Yesterday was one of those days when you question why you ever thought public transit was a good idea.
I stood at Coquitlam Centre, freezing in the cold winter fog, waiting for bus 187.
And I wasn’t alone — around 50 of us were stuck there, waiting and waiting, for over an hour and fifteen minutes.
As if the situation wasn’t frustrating enough, it happened on the same day that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation made headlines in the morning.
While the entire country was processing the unexpected news, a group of us in Coquitlam were stranded in the late afternoon, grappling with a much more immediate problem: getting home.
This wasn’t some random time, either.
It was right after school let out, when buses are supposed to be running frequently to accommodate the rush.
But there we were, left out in the cold — literally.
The worst part? No one told us what was going on.
The TransLink website eventually updated, but it was way too late to be helpful.
There were no signs, no announcements, nothing to explain why the bus wasn’t coming or when it might show up.
Out of frustration, I decided to ask the drivers in the nearby bus cabin.
Their response? "It’s not our responsibility; it’s about the driver of that route."
Seriously? If it’s not their responsibility then whose is it? Isn’t public transit supposed to be a system, not a collection of individuals passing the buck?
This whole experience left me with so many questions:
- Why isn’t there better communication? With all the technology we have, why can’t they send out notifications or at least update the digital boards in real time?
- Where’s the backup plan? If a bus is delayed this long, shouldn’t there be a replacement or some kind of alternative for the stranded passengers?
- What happened to accountability? Public transit is more than just getting people from A to B. It’s about reliability and trust—and yesterday, both were missing.
Vancouver loves to talk about being a sustainable city, about getting people to leave their cars at home and use public transit instead. But how are we supposed to trust a system that leaves us out in the cold, with no answers and no help?
I don’t expect perfection. Delays happen, sure.
But what I do expect is some level of respect for the people who rely on this system every day. Is that too much to ask?
- Moa Jaz, Coquitlam
