WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Wave Transit held a public meeting with passengers on Wednesday afternoon to discuss concerns about bus routes and arrival times.
At the start of this year, the Cape Fear Public Transit Authority (CFPTA) made some changes to its Wave bus system, but now officials are revisiting the issue.
“These are some adjustments just to fix a few of the things that didn’t quite go to plan, some issues that have shown up after the fact; trying to make a more reliable service for our customers‚” said Wave Public Relations Manager Brianna D’Itri.
D’Itri says some of the most notable delays they have been tracking are on routes 105, 107, 109, and 209.
Officials reached out to passengers to share their experiences commuting on these routes at the Oct. 23 meeting.
One passenger WECT spoke with says she rides the bus frequently, but notes how bus delays have affected her personal life.
“It is reliable, but sometimes it’s late,” said Shelita Johnson. “The buses don’t go where they need to go. I got fired for being late.”
Johnson works two jobs and relies on the bus to get her where she needs to be. Sometimes she uses several buses to get around the city.
“I get on one bus and then I have to get on the MICRO. The MICRO isn’t on time, all the time,” explained Johnson. “The buses, they used to be on time, but now they suck. They got the 109 that goes in a circle.”
Bus route 109, one officials hope to fix, travels busy Wilmington roads like Oleander Drive and South College Road.
The proposed idea is to detour route 109 to avoid peak traffic during rush hour. Leaders want to change its path to take Kerr Avenue.
For Johnson, this is one change she hopes will be implemented, because she lives on Kerr Avenue.
D’Itri says not only are they considering moving the path of routes, but also considering what areas could serve more passengers.
The feedback officials collect from customers will be studied over the next few weeks. As of now, we’re told any proposed route changes are not set in stone.
“So these are proposed changes, this is a draft of a draft. We’ve noticed these issues, we’ve heard from our customers,” said D’Itri. “This is just a suggestion of different options to fix things. It’s up to our customers at the end of the day as to what they think an issue is, if it’s impacting their life and their transportation needs negatively, and how or if they want us to try to fix that.”
Public input is still being accepted for changes to the Wave bus system. Click here to take the surveys.
CFPTA hopes to implement the WAVE bus route improvements by 2026.
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