As of May 21 Peterborough transit will be reinstating Route 9, Nicholls Park, and reversing the changes made to Route 11, Ashburnham.
The recently added Route 42 Trent Armour will continue to run on it’s current schedule and route, as will Route 40 Trent Reid.
The changes were announced Friday May 17, less than two weeks after the Nicholls Park and Trent East Bank bus routes were combined to create Trent Armour.
Trent Central Student Association (TCSA) President Ben Perry said that because the decision happened so quickly “it came as a shock to us […] but all was resolved once we got in contact with Peterborough.”
Trent Armour was meant to serve both Trent students and the Peterborough community. In practice, the plan proved to be much too ambitious.
The bus was the route of choice for Trent students, as well as Thomas A Stewart students, and community members living in the densely populated downtown East City.
Servicing these three major demographics made for a bus that was routinely late, often by as much as 20 minutes.
Residents and students have been vocal about their dislike of the route. Perry told Arthur “We had been listening to the students who were riding the Trent Armour over the past few weeks, and had expressed the concerns to the City in order to help alleviate some of the issues arisen.”
Chair of the Transportation Portfolio and City Councillor Len Vass told Arthur that Trent Armour was created to provide additional service for Trent students, but that “adjustment hasn’t gone that well.”
As such, he said the city is “reinstating [the Nicholls Park bus] to not create an adverse effect for residents while we figure out the Trent Armour route.”
Vass assured that the city would continue to monitor Trent service to see if further improvements or changes need to be made.
Others feel that the Trent Armour route itself was poorly constructed. One driver mentioned that the route begins by heading West, looping around Aylmer and Charlotte St, then returning to Simcoe St to go East.
“The whole thing takes three to four minutes, and then you’re right back where you started from.”
Councillor Vass told Arthur “We’re finding the route is too long to remain in sync with the rest of the buses.”
It is also important, both Vass and Perry said, to have the bus situation figured out for September in order to accommodate the returning Trent students who will rely on the buses.
Ben Perry told Arthur that at least one of the ways the city and the TCSA is preparing for this is by introducing a new “Trent Direct” bus route.
The route, which starts in September, “will travel from the Terminal directly up Water Street to campus and back,” Perry said.
Keep checking Arthur for transit updates as they are made available.
