It seems area residents have had enough of being told you can’t get there from here on public transit.
Local citizens gave the region’s public transportation system a failing grade in what was the lowlight of a rather mixed report card of the area’s quality of life.
The F grade was part of the Windsor Essex Community Foundation’s 2014 Vital Signs Report released Wednesday.
About 270 respondents completed the extensive questionnaire with over 2,000 offering opinions to at least parts of the survey this spring and summer.
The report incorporates Statistics Canada data, local studies and the survey to try and paint a picture of the region’s year-to-year progress.
While five categories got Ds from both city and county residents, only public transportation rated an F.
“If you want to affect the life of the region, the goal should be to get people moving back and forth comfortably,” said WECF executive director Glenn Stresman.
“It would help employment statistics, education and recreation if we had better regional transportation.
“I’d put that as the No. 1 priority from the survey.”
Stresman hinted that on this file, the public appears to be ahead of the political class. With an election looming he added it would be wise for candidates to study the report closely.
“I’ll say this, I think the public understands the need for regional transportation,” Stresman said.
The criticism of area transportation links isn’t just aimed at bus service. Locals also view bicycles as more than just recreational vehicles.
“We have to shift our mentality that bikes are for recreation,” said Vital Sign’s project manager Robin Easterbrook, who is also running for the Windsor mayor’s position in this month’s election.
“People view them as transportation options. We need more than just bike paths hooking into trails.”
Cyclists taking part in the Windsor Slow Ride Wednesday night agreed there needs to be more done to encourage people to commute by bicycle.
“The city’s come a long way, but every city’s doing it and we need to jump on the bandwagon,” said Slow Ride participant Dale Brown.
He said that while the weekly leisure ride tries to visit all parts of the city, they avoid crossing the E.C. Row Expressway in spots that are treacherous for those on two wheels.
“There’s lots of commuters but there’s parts of the city that don’t connect from one lane to another,” said Brown.
“Even in our ride through tonight to get from Howard into South Windsor, you’ve really got to know where to go and even then it’s really tricky. Unfortunately, going down Dougall you go through the death trap there so we don’t do that.”
John Scherer gave up his car five years ago and now does all his commuting by bicycle.
“I bike everywhere,” Scherer said.
“It’s good in spots but it’s lacking in other spots. You have bike lanes that just go for two blocks and just end. And the pavement is pretty horrible and they just paint a line through the cracks and potholes.”
He said that in addition to a better trail system he’d like to see more and better bike lanes.
“I’d like to see more separated bike lanes like they’re doing in Europe,” he said.
While public transportation left citizens in the grumpiest of moods, they weren’t exactly thrilled with what they’re observing in a number of areas.
The region also earned Ds from both city and county residents in the categories of art and culture, sustainable environment, building our community, citizen engagement and health and wellness.
There were also a mix of Cs and Ds for the well-being of seniors, education, affordable housing and food security.
Sports and recreation earned a B-minus in the city and a C-plus in the county as did community safety and the integration of immigrants.
“We thought we might find some differences between city and county residents and we didn’t,” Stresman said. “There were no significant differences in any category.”
The report also illustrated the complicated relationship local residents have with the community.
Despite the harsh grading in several areas, the report also included data from the Windsor-Essex Community Health Unit that reported nearly 93 per cent of the region’s residents liked living in the area.
“I think this report could be titled the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” Stresman said.
“Over 90 per cent of people said they like living here, but they gave Bs, Cs and Ds to many of the individual categories. We want Vital Signs to start those community conversations about what we can do better.”
Easterbrook said the encouraging sign is the region is showing statistical improvements across the board. Not a single category in the report recorded a downward trend.
“People are generally happy with their quality of life, but they tend to have a negative view of the community,” Easterbrook said.
“Public perception and statistical reality don’t always match.
“I think some of that has to do with history. Windsor is used to being compared to London, Kitchener and even Toronto and maybe fell short in comparison.
“There’s no reason to feel that way now. We have to move past that.”
Stresman said examples of that mismatch are the public perceptions around community safety when violent crimes stats have declined.
He added in a community with some of the cheapest housing in Canada, it’s also a bit of a head scratcher that housing didn’t rate higher.
“The one I really don’t understand is the concern over air quality in the environment category, but water doesn’t even rate in the top three of concerns,” Stresman said.
“It’s puzzling after we had the algae blooms in Lake Erie that shutdown Toledo’s water system.”
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