Fredericton needs Sunday bus service

Editor’s note: Following the publication of this article, the CBC reported that a new collective agreement with the union representing bus drivers means that Sunday service is now closer to becoming a reality. 

Fredericton Transit has once again sent out a survey via social media.

I admire any city that includes the public for consultations. They receive thousands of comments. Those comments will ultimately resonate with a demand for the start of Sunday service as soon as possible. However, the city has been focused on technology upgrades.

I was at the media conference when the tech upgrades were announced. The feeling before the announcement was excitement, as many thought the announcement was for Sunday service. As I watched the press conference, even the reporters continued to ask questions about Sunday service.

As founder of the group New Brunswick Supports Public Transit, I have has been advocating for this Sunday change service since 2021, so I was disappointed to hear that the city is only planning to have the service in place by the end of 2024.

We will have to wait another whole year. This is unacceptable in today’s age of inflation, homelessness, and the rising cost of gas.

Some people had to quit their second job simply because the taxi fare was too expensive to get to and from work on Sundays. It’s hard to hear this coming out of New Brunswick’s capital city.

The City of Fredericton really should be setting an example so citizens can better fight for rural transit options in our primarily rural province. This fight is currently ongoing in PEI and Nova Scotia.

Fredericton Transit is telling the public it wants to use the tech upgrades to better understand where services are needed all week, including on Sundays.

Sunday is a different beast. People are going to different places. Anyone in the transportation industry will tell you this: Sundays are special.

To use data from weekdays and implement the findings on a Sunday service will probably see many busses empty. For example, buses going to and from the city’s industrial parks aren’t really necessary on Sundays.

Instead of relying on data, Fredericton Transit could simply start small with a pilot project. It could be as easy as starting with having the main busy lines out on Sundays, and grow from there.

The city is growing at an unprecedented rate and people who arrive get a shock when they cannot rely on a bus on a Sunday in the capital of New Brunswick.

We need to see public transportation as just as important as garbage collection. The city and its citizens would be outraged if this service were cut. And, that’s moving garbage. Let’s use this passion and implement it on bus service.

In a recent CBC article, it is stated that a transit driver would potentially make $54 per hour if they worked on Sundays. This is because, unlike Moncton and Saint John, transit drivers in Fredericton are ultimately under the same umbrella as public works. Given the current difficulty hiring bus/transit drivers, this wage might attract people to the job.

Drivers I’ve spoken to informally are open to working Sundays. I’ve never heard a driver yet say they were not for it.

We must remember that Fredericton isn’t only the capital but it’s a city full of university students from the University of New Brunswick, St. Thomas University, the New Brunswick Community College, and the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design.

I was invited to the Environmental Praxis fair at St. Thomas University in April and many students shared my thoughts.

Council needs to listen to the people instead of giving all power to the manager. The bottom line is that the people have spoken over and over again: they want Sunday service in Fredericton. The time is now, not the end of 2024.

Chris Leblanc is an advocate for province-wide accessible transit. A former employee of Codiac Transpo and current transport driver, he is also the founder of New Brunswick Supports Public Transit.