Students share their transit struggles

By Liam Radford

BELLEVILLE – Some Loyalist College students living outside of Belleville say they have difficulty getting around easily and that a regional transit system would help.

QNet News has been doing a series of stories about public transit in the Quinte region and the possibilities of a regional transit system. 

Community integration through continuing education student Tyler MacDonald lives in Brighton and uses the Quinte Access bus or a Community Care driver to get to school everyday. The Quinte Access bus provides transportation for people who have disabilities.

Community Care Northumberland provides volunteer drivers with advance notice. 

He said he has started using Community Care’s service more often because of problems he has with Quinte Access.

“When I would take the bus to school and it would pick me up at home and then it would take two to three hours to pick everybody up and get to the school,” MacDonald said.

The Community Care vehicle takes him to school in about 45 minutes, but the trip costs $3o. That is something that is unsustainable with his current finances, he said.

Mathew Weeks is a second-year student in the film and T.V. program at Loyalist College. He says he moved to Belleville from Trenton to make travel easier. He does not own a car or even have his license, so he relies on public transport to get around.

“I think the biggest problem with living in Trenton is the fact that every time you’re in Trenton you want to be going to Belleville,” Weeks said.

He says he knows that people are often forced to use more expensive ways to get around because of the lack of affordable options.

“I have had conversations with people before who take taxis everyday here and they spend like $25 everyday,” he said.

Robin Schock, a professor in the community integration through continuing education program at Loyalist College, says many of her students rely on the Quinte Access bus to travel to Belleville from Trenton, Deseronto, Brighton and other municipalities.

Courtney Chaumont, a student of Schock’s, said that she is often forced to take a taxi instead of the Quinte Access bus.

“When the Quinte Access bus is full then I have to take a taxi. That’s really really stressful for me,” she said.

A transit system that allows people to come in to Belleville from surrounding areas would help everyone, Weeks said.

“It helps bring populations together because I think that there are a lot of people without cars and people without transit that would really benefit from buses that go from Trenton to Belleville,” he said.