Guelph busses rolling; lockout has affected businesses as well as transit users
Posted Aug 8, 2014 06:11:05 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Many were left without a way to get downtown during the transit lockout, and as a result some businesses in that area also took a hit.
The manager of Harmony on Wyndham Street, Dana Jeffery, says there were hardly and people in downtown once the lockout started.
“It looked like something out of The Walking Dead.”
It didn’t get much better during the three weeks and business suffered. Jeffery says there were hardly any people coming in the store.
“It has taken a huge hit. Now I am left with not as many people walking downtown, no one is coming downtown. No one’s here. It’s a ghost town down here.”
Jeffery also works another job in Stone Road Mall, where she feels safety was also a concern at night as many workers bus to and from work. As store clerks would finish work at 9pm, Jeffery found herself coming back to the mall to give them a ride home; a safer option than them walking home at night.
Vendors at Wednesday Farmer’s market at St. George’s Square also noticed less foot traffic when there was no bus traffic. Some of them, also bus users who found themselves having to find alternate transportation to work during the lockout or walk, which for one vendor was a trip that took more than an hour each way.
These vendors are hoping that the free bus fare being offered until August 15th will help make up for some of the losses sustained.
Jeffery is sceptical that the free will help. She tells 570 News that her boss at the Stone Road Mall store has had to take a cab in to work each day, which is close to $35 each way. The amount she spent in one day is close to the cost of a bus pass for an entire month.
