Whyte Avenue bus plan given rough ride

A plan to alleviate crowding on Whyte Avenue after last call hit a road block Wednesday night.

The proposal to use late night buses to move partiers from the popular strip to Southgate Mall got a rough ride from southside residents at a public meeting.

Whyte Avenue patrons complain there are not enough cabs after closing time on Friday and Saturday nights to get them home.

Under the city's plan, buses would run down Whyte every 12 minutes taking people through the University of Alberta, Belgravia and McKernan neighborhoods and onward to the Southgate Transit Centre.

But many people living in nearby communities don't like it — fearing the service would simply move the drunks off Whyte Avenue into their neighborhoods, especially around the mall.

Coun. Don Iveson suggested most riders would likely get off before the bus reaches Southgate.

"There won't be a critical mass of people at Southgate," he said. "That's what we want to avoid.

"We want to diminish the critical mass on Whyte Avenue and not create a critical mass of late night revellers anywhere else along the line."

The city assured residents a uniformed police officer would be stationed at Southgate, to handle any problems.

One resident, Mark Wakefield, was unconvinced police had officers to spare.

"They're way too short," he said. "They can't control Whyte Avenue with the members they've got, so you're spreading it thinner; you're bringing them into the other neighbourhoods."

The city is now waiting for feedback from an online survey and will then decide whether to move ahead with the plan.