FILE PHOTO
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
January 11, 2016 - 6:30 PM
VERNON - Those who take the bus from the Vernon mall are in for some changes.
There have been safety issues and close calls at the stop, which is located outside the food court at the Village Green Centre, transportation engineer Amanda Watson said during a city council meeting today, Jan. 11.
The transit operator, First Canada, has said it will no longer be stopping there due to the safety issues. The stop is now being moved to 48 Avenue and will be in effect starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6.
“It doesn’t seem like the right idea,” Coun. Brian Quiring said.
He’d like to see the option of moving the stop outside the Bay entrance explored, so people don’t have to walk across the parking lot.
Coun. Juliette Cunningham agreed it isn’t ideal to ask people, especially those with mobility challenges, to walk from the new stop on 48 Avenue to the mall.
“When the weather is ideal, I guess thats okay, but at this time of year that’s just not acceptable,” Cunningham said.
Discussions with the Village Green Centre over the last several years led to some minor changes to the stop, however the centre insists the only acceptable transit stop on the mall property is at the food court entrance, Watson said.
The city might not have the authority to get the bus stop moved, but it’s going to try. Council resolved to send a letter to the mall expressing its disappointment a safe and reasonable access for the bus was not created.
Route 3 (Alexis Park), route 2 (Pleasant Valley) and route 60 (Armstrong/Enderby) all stop at the mall.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016