Raise the Hammer

I, for one, am not fond of the new alignment. There are a lot of mostly empty 10s running now (moreso than before), particularly on the routes coming from campus. I can see why - For students with classes on the north end of the campus, it is not convenient to walk from Main to the other end, and it is even less of a draw to walk the reverse to catch a bus home. Better, it seems, to catch one of the full-to-bursting non-articulated buses that stop right outside the student centre.

One aspect of the problem that was not adequately considered is what will happen in the winter. First, few are going to walk all the way across campus in a blizzard. Second, the north-south sidewalks are simply not wide enough to accommodate any large number of students (not that many will trek all that way in the cold, of course).

From a former student's perspective, the 10 was one of the only buses during the school day that I remember consistently being able to get a seat on (which is an issue if you're carting books around, believe me). Now, you're guaranteed a seat, of course, but since it's much less convenient to take, you're more likely to squeeze into an incredibly overcrowded 5 or 51. I recall the westbound 10 being mostly full of students from downtown and queen during the week. Many, if not most, of these students, will now be crowding onto other buses, particularly in the winter.

As others have mentioned, another problem with the 10 stopping at Main and Emerson is the obvious fact that pedestrians aren't welcome there, and pedestrians=transit users. Although Main is at what is becoming a busy part of campus, there is nothing as of yet on the other side of the street (unless the university is planning on building there). The previous route went through campus, and drew its ridership from every corner of the university. A move to Main would be easier to understand once the city has LRT, and there are two less lanes of traffic on Main. Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense to me. It's analogous to running a north-south line that steers away from James north.

Conversely, of course, bad transit=drive to campus. If the focus is the speed of transit, not its convenience, why not run it down the middle of the 403?

I hated it too when lazy Westdalians would take up room on the bus instead of walking for 5 or 10 minutes. I also agree that "rapid" transit should be more efficient for those traveling the longer distances that make such rapidity necessary. However, I don't think making transit to campus even more inconvenient than it was before is the answer. How about only having one stop in the Westdale westbound, and no stop on eastbound trips through the neighborhood? Honestly, why not?

If the city insists on running half-empty 10s along Main, they could run an articulated 1 or 51 bus that makes all stops through the university. Justifiably, of course, there would be an uproar due to the tax dollars being thrown away on the giant, largely empty 10 buses going along Main.