The following occurred on the 201 transit route heading from Edmonton to St. Albert at approximately 3:30 p.m.
I boarded the 201 from MacEwan heading westbound and there was another gentleman who boarded with me at the same spot. He inquired to the bus driver about the detour on St. Albert Trail and requested a special drop off along the detour he required to reach the 137th intersection of the trail near the shopping plaza where he would be picked up by his wife.
The driver disregarded his request and claimed, "It is against my orders. I can't drop you off there."
The driver than said that a shuttle bus would accommodate this problem for him and he would take the shuttle from the Trail. I imagine the shuttle from Edmonton to St. Albert would have to be met along 118 Avenue and the traffic circle where the shuttle runs. Since I have taken this 201 detour before, I recall taking 118 Avenue all the way to 156 Street to return to Village Landing.
However, the bus driver ignored this passenger’s request and instead he did not meet the traffic circle drop off point for the shuttle. He left Kingsway Avenue and turned north onto 121 Street and met with Yellowhead Trail, thereby taking the Yellowhead all the way west and met up with 156 Street. If 121 Street is an accepted route for the detour, then the bus driver was not at fault, but somehow I disagree with the driver’s decision as he was aware of this passenger's specific request.
By the time we reached the intersection of 137 Avenue and 156 Street, the gentleman was very upset and began using loud profanity at the fact that the bus driver would not let him off. He then asked to be let off at the next stop, which was just after the left turn on 156 Street heading onto 137 Avenue, but the driver again did not do so.
While the passenger's use of foul language and irritable behaviour was not the best reaction on his behalf, the bus driver disobeyed his own detour by not allowing this gentleman to access the St. Albert Trail shuttle bus along the 118 Avenue traffic circle. I have been a frequent user of St. Albert Transit for over five years now and this was one of the first times I have seen the 201 take an offset detour down 121 Street.
I understand that detour routes do not always guarantee passengers access to their desired paths, but sometimes detours happen on unpredicted events such as traffic jams or accidents whereby St. Albert Transit has an obligation to give passengers compensated bus drop-off posts along that designated detour. Any ignorance on that duty contradicts the role of public transportation and goes against the mission statement of St. Albert Transit Services.
The bus driver objectively exemplified his neglect to give this man an opportunity to depart along the 118 Avenue traffic circle by exiting Kingsway Avenue and 121 Street. This was a poor judgment call and if this may be a new detour route for the 201, all passengers including myself should receive an online notification as well as verbal confirmation from drivers that they will be avoiding the shuttle bus on 118 Avenue traffic circle by utilizing 121 Street, so that they may make their own decisions before boarding the bus and find alternate methods if need be.
Constantine Karampelas, St. Albert
