Some Kelowna city council members had positive experiences riding the bus following a challenge by a local transit lobby group.<\/p>\n
Councillors Luke Stack and Gord Lovegrove both expressed satisfaction with Kelowna's transit system during a council meeting yesterday, Feb. 6, after taking on Okanagan Transit Alliance's challenge for municipal politicians to ride the bus for one week. <\/p>\n
The transit alliance said while issuing the challenge that transit workers are underpaid and that in turn was causing service cuts due to staffing problems.<\/p>\n
By extending this challenge to local government, the lobby group hoped that both the successes and failures of the system would become evident.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> Transit lobby group challenges to Okanagan city councils to take the bus for one week<\/a><\/p>\n Stack said he took on the challenge because he wanted to get "first hand experience riding the bus."<\/p>\n He rode the number five bus alongside councillor Rick Webber.<\/p>\n Stack said the buses were clean and riders were polite.<\/p>\n "I know it's not always the case but our overall experience was very positive," he said. <\/p>\n READ MORE: <\/strong>iN TRANSIT: Riders have their take on Kelowna's bus system<\/a><\/p>\n The councillor's experience was seemingly smooth and enjoyable, with no mention of problems or kinks in the system.<\/p>\n "It was emphasized to me through that experience just what a fantastic service BC Transit, in partnership with us, offers to our community and it was very educational to use the new transit app for me, which I hadn't done before," Stack said.<\/p>\n "So, overall a very positive experience. So, if anyone else is interested in trying transit out I would say give it a whirl because it's very enjoyable and, in our case, was a very efficient way to get to downtown and back." <\/p>\n Lovegrove seconded Stack's high praise and described Kelowna's bus service as being driven by friendly drivers and thankful passengers.<\/p>\n Although he did note that there's room for improvement. <\/p>\n "Instead of taking a parking pass at city hall I actually decided that I would rather have a bus pass, a monthly bus pass," he said. "So, I gave up my free parking at city hall so that I can get my bus pass and I ride it twelve months a year."<\/p>\n To contact a reporter for this story, email Georgina Whitehouse<\/a> or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor<\/a>. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom<\/a> and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some Kelowna city council members had positive experiences riding the bus following a challenge by a local transit lobby group. Councillors Luke Stack and Gord Lovegrove both expressed satisfaction with Kelowna's transit system during a council meeting yesterday, Feb. 6, after taking on Okanagan Transit Alliance's challenge for municipal politicians to ride the bus for one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":545,"featured_media":749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"iNFOnews","byline":"Georgina Whitehouse","published":"2024-02-06T02:00:32","updated":"2024-02-06T10:00:32","_infotelid":"IT103061","_prepressid":"103061","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[491,3,492,493],"tags":[318,304,22,317],"region":[206,207,208,209],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight","category-inwheels","category-local","category-topnews","tag-city-of-kelowna-2024","tag-georgina-whitehouse","tag-kelowna-news","tag-klfeb2024","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/760\/positive-reviews-from-kelowna-councillors-challenged-to-ride-the-bus\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Positive reviews from Kelowna councillors challenged to ride the bus","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/760\/positive-reviews-from-kelowna-councillors-challenged-to-ride-the-bus\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/760\/positive-reviews-from-kelowna-councillors-challenged-to-ride-the-bus\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/MediaItemID102959-6071.JPG?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/MediaItemID102959-6071.JPG"},"articleSection":"highlight","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Georgina Whitehouse"}],"creator":["Georgina Whitehouse"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":["city of kelowna 2024","georgina whitehouse","kelowna news","klfeb2024"],"dateCreated":"2024-02-06T10:00:32Z","datePublished":"2024-02-06T10:00:32Z","dateModified":"2024-02-06T18:00:32Z"},"rendered":"
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