Saint John construction causes temporary changes for transit riders

Those who rely on public transit in uptown Saint John, N.B., will have to adapt to some temporary changes starting next week.

Beginning Aug. 19, ongoing construction work on Charlotte Street will mean Saint John Transit will not be able to service King Street. This includes stops at Kings Square North, King Street, Charlotte Street, and City Hall at the bottom of King Street.

The city is implementing temporary stops during the disruption, one being on King Street East while the other will be located on Water Street just past Market Square.

Buses 1E, 3E, 9E, 20, 33, 35, 52, 1W, 3N, 9N, 15W, 21, and 23 will stop and transfer passengers at the King Street East temporary stop between Sydney and Carmarthen Streets.

Buses 1W, 3N, 9N, 15W, 23 1E, 3E, 9E, 15s, and 23 will be stopping on Water Street between Market Square and Princess Street for passenger pick ups and drop offs.

The changes will also mean detours for buses. Buses headed north from uptown (3N, 9N, and 23) as well as those headed west (1W and 15W) will drive down King Street East before turning right on Carmarthen Street, then right on Broad Street along Water Street to St Patrick Street to the regular route.

The long south bound bus (21) will leave King Street East, turn right on Carmarthen Street before making another right on Duke Street for their regular route.

Buses east bound (1E, 3E, 9E, 33, 35, and 52) leaving King Street East will turn right onto Sydney Street to their normal route. The same can be said for north bound bus (20) leaving the same location.

For residents who rely on transit to get to and from uptown, they understand the reasoning for the temporary changes but aren’t looking forward to it.

“It’s going to be a pain,” says rider Amanda Evans. “It's hard enough trying to catch the bus that you need when you have a central hub to catch it. Trying to find additional spots and better hook ups and trying to time your bus schedule is going to throw everything out of whack.”

“I think it's going to be weird because I'm used to catching the bus around here,” says fellow rider Nicholas Phillips while waiting for his bus on King Street. “Nothing really I can do about it because they run construction.”

Some residents aren’t worried about the slight inconvenience but do share some concern for those with mobility issues having to walk up or down King Street every day.

Saint John Transit and Fleet senior manager Kevin Loughery understand those concerns, especially considering the affected area is one of the more high density trafficked zones when it comes to riders jumping on or off the busses.

“We try to take all of our riders into and the impact that these detours have on them when we're trying to schedule out what the detour looks like,” he says. “One of the unfortunate parts about Uptown Saint John is we're limited with where we can take our busses just based on the size and the turning radius and things like that. When we did the detour reroutes, we took that all into account and tried to mitigate as much of that as we possibly could.”

The city is expected the detours to last eight weeks.

The reason behind the disruption all together is due to construction on Charlotte Street, which is already well underway on both ends of the street. It is far from the only construction project happening uptown, which has made driving around the city a little more of a headache then normal.

There have been some residents online on social media questioning why the city can’t complete one project before starting another. A social media post in late July from Mayor Donna Reardon offered some clarity.

In 2021 the City of Saint John locked down $38.7 million through a funding program called the “Green Infrastructure Stream.” The program included $12.9 million from the province, and $15.5 million from the federal government, meaning the city only has to cover 26 cents for every dollar spent on the upgrades according to the mayor.

The reason for some many projects on going at the same time is because the funding must be used by 2026 otherwise it will be lost. The funds are going towards needed water and sewer system repairs, some of which dates back to the late 1800’s. 

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