The SCRD has cut handy-DART services due to budget restraints. This has a big impact on those of us who need handy-DART for our mobility. We appreciate our drivers who are so patient even though sometimes we are painfully slow and the people in the office who organize cancellations or any other schedule changes. Recently, however, changes have been made that cut my hours and altered my schedule.
The bus takes me to Sunnycrest Mall to do some necessary shopping, and over the years, the regular group of users have become good friends. We use our last few minutes in the mall to catch up with one another, and I think I enjoyed this the most. We are now too rushed to complete our shopping with no time to spare and our times at the mall no longer coincide.
We can rarely book necessary trips to the doctor, dentist or physio because there is absolutely no time in the schedule. We are forced to accept this and settle for one trip a week on Monday afternoons.
I have heard various numbers regarding costs to run the HandyDART and I can't comment on this because I am not privy to this information, nor am I privy to any other cuts that were made recently. I will give the SCRD the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are unaware how devastating the cuts are to everyone who uses this service. You are more than welcome to come and ride with my friends and me and experience the value of this one trip a week or ride with another group of users who suffer even greater losses.
We would greatly appreciate you revisiting your decision.
Evelyn Neufeld, Hilda Tierney, Violet Puiu, Maureen Beauchesne
Gibsons
