Buses are back on the streets of Moncton after the city and Codiac Transpo employees signed a new contract, ending their five-month lockout.
With their return to the roads came a new system, new routes, new stops and new schedules but some riders say a few wrinkles still need to be worked out.
“It's not bad, you get used to it pretty fast,” says transit user Jane Malley. “They'll help you out if you talk to the drivers, they're more than happy to help you out.”
“It's a little hard to get used to but I'm quickly catching on,” says transit rider Pam Ayles. “Everything seems to be running much better, more efficiently than it previously was.”
However, the new system doesn’t work for everyone.
“I drive by my work on one bus and they don't let us out, we have to come back and take a different bus to get let out on Trinity,” says transit user Samantha Thompson.
Before the lockout, about 700,000 people rode the bus each day.
Senior transit planner Marie-Claire Pierce says it will be awhile before the city knows if the passengers are coming back after being without the service for so long.
“We're looking at a year, almost probably a year before we can get our ridership back,” she says.
Pierce says the changes that have been implemented are not set in stone and there could be some tinkering based on feedback, from both the drivers and passengers.
“We're asking people to be patient and to try the system and we'll continue to tweak and improve the system as we go,” says Pierce.
Not all of the bus routes are up and running yet; 15 of the 19 routes are in service while the rest will be online by the end of the month.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
