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The consulting report and recommendations regarding Codiac Transit service in Moncton highlights the system's failures and confirms what citizens have been telling the city and Codiac Transit for many years: routes are poorly thought out, schedules are poor, bus frequency is a problem and many more people would use the bus if service improved.

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Some aspects of the report seem to us to be serving the interests of Codiac Transit and its management more than the citizens. It notes, for example, that a short-term solution to one problem would be to "realign Routes 1 and 2 to avoid duplication of the Express service on Mountain Road as proposed by Codiac Transit." Why didn't Codiac Transit address the duplication (riders have complained of it often) when it started the route, and, failing that, why didn't it do so when the problem became obvious? It surely didn't have to wait to 'propose' a solution to the consultants.

And the consultants suggest Codiac needs more public relations and marketing staff. That's far from a priority, at least until its routes and other problems keeping ridership low are fully addressed. No amount of marketing will sell a basically poor service for long. It has to improve first.

It is touted that Codiac Transit has the lowest operating cost of any transit system in Canada, but it hardly matters when the system can't attract and keep riders. Its ability to run itself efficiently is a phantom positive when buses run largely empty. Other cities our size have many times the ridership, the consultants found.

Moncton merits criticism too. The consultants logically suggest a central bus terminal is needed in the downtown core. There is no room on Main Street, which makes the logical place somewhere along Assomption Boulevard; the same newly enhanced boulevard that planners insisted on making two lanes instead of four, stating they would be able to expand it in future when needed. It should have been done right in the first place and if a bus terminal is put in the area, it will be an additional necessary expense. That lack of vision will return to haunt the council, city staff and taxpayers.

Moncton City Council now has an official document outlining the problems and much of what needs to be done, even if much of it has been obvious to riders and citizens for years. Now it must get to work to ensure Codiac Transit improves its service significantly. Otherwise, little will change.