Christine Whelan, FEO, February 20, 2025, VOL. 6 ISSUE 12
Niagara Transit has been working on its Master Plan and hosted an “in-person engagement session” at Fort Erie Town Hall on January 30. Residents were invited to attend to review different approaches to improving the current transit service. Before this date, residents had been asked to complete an online survey.
Niagara Transit invited the public to attend this engagement session. Expecting to discuss the future, they were caught off guard and met instead with a room of engagement on the immediate needs of the present.
Lori Brant, chair of the Fort Erie Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC), had a list of people who had contacted her with stories of being left somewhere by the current transit service.
Lori, who is in a wheelchair but drives her own car, decided to test the service. She booked a ride and then took her experience to the engagement session.
Brant admitted she was nervous about taking transit because of stories of cancelled trips, but she booked her ride. She got picked up, no problem. However, while waiting for her pick-up to return home, she got a notice on her phone: “Your ride cannot be serviced at this time.”
Sitting there stranded, she had to find a way home.
After she called Niagara Transit, a ride was finally provided. In those moments, she couldn’t begin to describe her feelings.
“We had 13 vehicles on the road. When the Region took over, we went down to six. We were guaranteed by Niagara Transit that we would get the same or better service.”
Councillor Joan Christensen was at the January 30 engagement session.
“Generally, I would support a regionalized approach, but I’ve been hearing complaints, many quite significant,” Councillor Christensen commented. “I know Lori Brant quite well and respect her as the chair of the Accessibility Advisory Committee. When the system challenges her, there’s a serious issue that has to be addressed.”
Hours of Operation: An Interpretation Issue
The councillor continued, “A concern with the current system is that there has been a significant fall-off in availability and with respect to hours of operation. It’s supposed to be 7:00 a.m.—11:00 p.m. However, the vehicles are not stationed in Fort Erie. They are coming from a depot out of town. So, 7-11 isn’t the service time; it’s the time the staff are working. It’s an interpretation issue.
“How can we have the same or better service if we have a reduction in the number of vehicles and a reduction in the working hours dedicated to our community?”
Councillor Ann-Marie Noyes, who also attended the engagement session, called the situations where people were left without a ride ‘abandonment’. “That’s a type of abuse.”
She wondered, “I don’t know if the people who were sending out those messages — telling people that their rides have been cancelled, particularly to the specialized transit riders, a vulnerable population — realize that they are endangering others.”
The councillor noted, “I think they got the message and are taking steps to correct the situation. I am hopeful that things will improve in the next few months.”
Health Affected
Ron Deschamps, a resident who takes the Niagara Transit service to Welland three times a week for dialysis, is directly and dangerously affected.
Since the drivers leave their depots at 7:00 am from out of town, Ron has not been able to get to his dialysis on time, cutting his life-saving treatment short.
Ron said, “I can’t understand it. They send someone from St. Catharines or Welland to pick me up to take me to dialysis. Why don’t they send a vehicle from Fort Erie?”
He continued that when he finally is picked up, the driver doesn’t take time-efficient routes and makes several other stops. This makes him late for when he is expected to be at his dialysis appointment.
While Ron’s regular appointment three days a week is at 8:00 a.m. in Welland, he says he is often dropped off at 8:30, at times even between 9:00 and 9:30.
“It’s affecting my health.”
Ron continued, “If they came from Fort Erie, they’d be here at 7:15. I’d get to dialysis around 7:50. Which would be fine. I could get my full hours in on the machine.”
He said that before the change in the transit system, the schedule had started at 6:00 am.
Deschamps says he has spoken with Mayor Redekop and is now waiting and hoping for a change.
In an attempt to interview the Niagara Transit Commission, I received an email reply stating that Niagara Transit has decided to step back from interviews on this subject for now. “We will be sending formal correspondence to our Board and area Councils later this spring, which will provide helpful context around our service. We will share that with the media when the time comes.”
The Mayor’s Announcement
At the beginning of the In-Council-Committee Meeting on Monday, February 10th, Mayor Redekop announced that he, along with Jennifer Pennell-Ajie from the infrastructure staff, met with General Manager Carla Stout and Jordon Hambleton of Niagara Transit Commission on February 5th.
“Topics we discussed included the number of vehicles and services available to Fort Erie relative to what existed before the amalgamation of transit services in Niagara.
“Turns out that a far greater number of vehicles were allocated to Fort Erie. They’re trying to get that back into balance. We will have an additional vehicle on March 1st, and two additional vehicles are planned going forward.”
He continued, “One of the issues had to do with dialysis patients who need to be in Welland, Niagara Falls, or St. Catharines for 8:00 a.m. Up until now, none of the vehicles for Niagara Transit have been located in Fort Erie. They’re going to be changing it so that, if the vehicles aren’t located here, they will be in Fort Erie for a 7:00 a.m. service start, which is what they are committed to and which we expect.
“We talked about a fixed route for the east part of Fort Erie based on a resolution passed by this Council some time ago. This includes On Demand services for those going into or out of east Fort Erie.”
The Mayor reported that there had been past discussions about inter-municipal transit with Niagara Transit, a north-south circle route that would take people directly from one municipality to the hub of another. There was also discussion around the possibility of an east-west route.
“Which would make sense given the route that has to be currently taken to get from Fort Erie to St. Catharines.” He added, ” One of the main reasons this Council supported an amalgamation of transit services was to improve inter-municipal transportation.”
And finally, “We talked about the specialized transit service. Niagara Transit has about 4,000 users of specialized transit. A number of those, they believe, could be using regular transit. So, they will embark on a policy and qualifications reviews of the Niagara Transit specialized riders.”
Just the First Step
“The announcement from the Mayor is just a first step,” Tom Insinna, Regional Councillor, remarked.
“I think Fort Erie is still under-serviced. They didn’t live up to what they had promised. $4.1 million of the taxpayers’ money has gone into this system, and we get back a less effective service than before.”
Insinna explained that co-mingling has been included. “They combined the Specialized Service with anybody who needed the On Demand Service. But they didn’t increase the number of vehicles.”
Insinna spoke of the people who had repeatedly been left without a ride home; one senior man was left at his day program five times.
“There are a lot of flaws in the system, and I point to the person in charge.” Speaking directly, “Obviously, you’re burying your head in the sand because when it comes to customer service, you don’t have any.”
He’s tired of not being listened to. “I’ve dealt with Niagara Transit. Now, I’m dealing with the Board of Directors through Matt Sisco, who is the chair. If I have issues, I’m going to him. I’m tired of being put off.”
Councillor Noyes remarked, “This has always been an important issue, and it’s finally getting the attention it deserves.”
