Oddities of PEI - Part 4 - Transit

Ahhh, PEI Transit. This transit system only began in 2005, so it is very new. And from a conversation I inadvertently eavesdropped on, there were a lot of people who opposed it then and who still oppose it. So, the bus system is still fighting opposition.

My understanding is that the bus system is run by a private company, but paid for by the city.

The bus fleet is supposed to match the old time "tourist-y" feel of downtown. So, all the buses look like old trolley cars:


Oh, and that includes the inside. The seats are like park benches:


Where to start about the bus system? Let's start with the good things perhaps!

• It makes me appreciate Saskatoon's bus system
• The bus is always on time here, PROVIDING it's running
• The bus drivers will drop you off anywhere you ask, not just at designated stops
• The bus drivers are very friendly and there's not many of them, so they get to know you

Now the bad points:

• The buses break down...and there are no replacement buses. And the only way you find out that the bus has broken down is by word of mouth from other people waiting for the same bus. If they replace it, it's with a 16 seater van.
• They changed the schedule in the summer so that more buses run. But all the schedules they have posted around the city? They didn't update ANY of them. So, unless you happen to have a paper copy of the new schedule, you don't know when a bus comes.
• The bus drivers are INSANE. I'm surprised a pedestrian hasn't been killed, as they don't really seem to give a crap about them.
  
• The bus doesn't run on Sunday at all, nor on holidays.
  
• They only recently upgraded to, wait for it...LAMINATION. The first pass I got was a 4 month pass that was just a piece of construction paper basically. Don't ask me how that was expected to hold up for 4 months. At the start of October they replaced that with a laminated pass.
  
• The bus doesn't start running until 7am and stops at 10pm.
  
• The way they label the routes is confusing. They don't say "Up and down University Avenue is Route #1. Any bus going there is labelled #1." Instead it's more like "The bus labelled #1 is going to be doing University Ave. for this hour. But next hour the bus labelled #5 is going to be doing it." I can't even explain it right, it's so confusing. The buses are labelled, not the routes.
  

Overall, I'm very grateful to have the bus system. But it could use a lot of improvement.