So, here's the thing with a lot of the complaints about the network. I understand these beginning pains are only natural and that (eventually) things will calm down, but a lot of these criticisms of the new network have a sense of entitlement/ignorance radiating from them.
Firstly, many of the complaints being shared are from suburban commuters who lost their normal bus lines and have to use on-demand transit/have a longer walk to the nearest bus stop. Like... I get short-term frustration, but in long-term thinking I'm not sure what these people were expecting with this redesign other than this logical streamlining. Of course riders in the inner-city are going to get better service and be more prioritized than you, and unfortunately less transit frequency and coverage are a detriment of living on the periphery of the city.
Secondly, there was literally years of consultation for this network before its implementation, so if people are having such strong reactions now I'm curious as to why they (maybe) weren't more vocal beforehand? They city literally asked thousands of citizens what kind of network they wanted at the start of this: One with more coverage/less frequency or more frequency/less coverage? From what I understand, the overwhelming response was that people would be willing to walk further to their bus stop if it meant the bus would come more frequently.
Finally, let's not forget that things are going to be tweaked over the coming months in terms of specific routes/frequencies and, if these problems are as big as people are making them out to be, I'm sure certain routes could be re-added/changed. However, I have a feeling these really are only growing pains and that people will settle into the new system over the next 6 months/year
As someone who lives in the "central" city, I'm very happy with the redesign and I look forward to using the bus more often (when I actually need to go places again lol)
