This 16-year-old has a plan to improve public transit in his northern Ontario city

Jonathan Migneault · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

A Sudbury teenager has a connection helium thinks could amended transit successful the metropolis and helium plans to contiguous it successful a petition to metropolis council.

Samuel Sweet, a Grade 11 pupil astatine St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School, said helium started taking the autobus regularly erstwhile helium was successful Grade 9.

"The buses are precise clean, they're precise safe," helium said. "What I don't similar is fundamentally the routings."

In his petition, Sweet has projected the metropolis get escaped of neighbourhood autobus routes which tally connected a loop, and regenerate them with "core" routes which are much linear, and tally betwixt 2 transit hubs. 

"All of these neighbourhood routes but for a fewer volition beryllium turned into these halfway routes which person overmuch faster question times," helium said.

"They are overmuch much direct."

Sweet has besides projected the metropolis adhd an further 20,000 work hours to its GOVA transit system, which presently has buses connected the roadworthy 179,000 hours each year. 

Using the city's ain outgo estimates per work hour, helium estimates it would outgo an further $3 cardinal per year.

Sweet said a batch of autobus trips successful the metropolis instrumentality 3 to 4 times arsenic agelong arsenic driving, but helium believes that with his plan, a 30-minute thrust would instrumentality 39 minutes by bus.

Greater Sudbury metropolis assembly precocious approved an further 11,000 work hours for the transit work which is being done successful 2 phases, with 6,000 hours added successful 2024 and the remaining to beryllium added this year.

Laura Gilbert, the city's acting manager of transit services, said unit projected those further transit work hours to assembly based connected feedback from riders.

"We bash a batch of engagement sessions," she said.

Gilbert said erstwhile the metropolis adds much work hours for transit it has to equilibrium existent request with the imaginable to summation ridership.

"If you physique it, they volition come," she said.

"We privation to physique and turn transit. So we're truly grateful that Sam is bringing that attraction and highlighting that request to the assemblage and getting that petition going."

Gilbert said transit ridership successful Sudbury has been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic and reached 6.2 cardinal rides successful 2024.

But Gilbert said the metropolis would request to implicit its existent enlargement of transit services earlier looking astatine adding further hours.

"I deliberation there's ever a lawsuit to reappraisal and look to summation hours," she said.