Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

11 September 2009

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 1037, for 11 September 2009.

In this issue...

1 - Calendar

2 - Bus service is a lifeline for rural Canada: David Jeanes, Transport 2000

"Each day, a single Greyhound bus pulls into Ethelbert, Manitoba, population 312, and stops for just five minutes before moving on, a critical lifeline for the village's fragile economy," Reuters reported on Sept. 5.

"It is unlikely that another company will fill Greyhound's void, said David Jeanes, president of Transport 2000 Canada, a consumer advocacy group. "The markets for many of these small towns just aren't big enough to sustain any sort of replacement service," he said. "On the merchandise side, there are small businesses that are absolutely dependent on it. We've seen hospitals that use the bus parcel service to deliver their blood products," Reuters reported. "Small towns are likely to face major problems unless the federal government steps in, he said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/world/americas/05canada.html

3 - Orangeville Citizen: Greyhound's move shows need for new Via role

" ... Greyhound Canada went about securing a virtual monopoly of intercity bus service across Canada. Locally, it purchased both Gray Coach Lines ... and its lone competitor, Penetang Midland Coach Lines, raised fares rather spectacularly and reduced service to the point where today only one bus passes through Dufferin, leaving Owen Sound at 10:30 a.m. and arriving in downtown Toronto shortly after 2 p.m., then starting its return trip at about 6 p.m. As for fares, the non-refundable "bargain" ticket costs $21.75 to and from Orangeville and $23.30 for an adult going to or from Shelburne. In comparison, the current GO Transit fare between Orangeville and Toronto's Union Station is $9.40 for adults and half that for students and seniors," a Sept. 10 Orangeville Citizen editorial said.

"Assuming, reasonably, that the local Greyhound fares are typical of those elsewhere in Canada, it's passing strange that after gobbling up all its competition, the Canadian subsidiary of Dallas-based Greyhound Lines Inc. now thinks it deserves multi-milliondollar subsidies in return for continuing to serve small-town Canada. As we see it, the appropriate response of the federal government would be to give Via Rail essentially the same role role the Ontario government gave GO Transit, a mandate to provide rail service in the Greater Toronto Area where it's warranted, complemented by bus service where it isn't.," the Orangeville Citizen said.

http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2009/0910/editorial/018.html

4 - Courtesy for STM passengers: Normand Parisien, Transport 2000

"Normand Parisien, the executive director of Transport 2000, Quebec a public-transit lobby group, said there should be a courtesy given to STM passengers," the Montreal Gazette reported on Sept. 6. "I think that incident sounds a bit abusive," he said. "In a city like Montreal, there should be service in English as a courtesy, but I don't think it should be obligatory of bus drivers to have to speak English."

"He was reacting to a story published in Saturday's Gazette in which Muhammed Ahmad Munir, a student visiting from Pakistan, was kicked off the No. 66 bus Friday morning after the bus driver refused to speak to him in English. The bus driver proceeded to call police, saying she had an aggressive passenger, and she kicked the rest of the passengers off the bus as well," the Gazette's Jason Magder reported.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/English+rules+Chairman/1967058/story.html

5 - Extracurricular travel: Random choices govern safety standards

"In January 2008, 17-year-old Daniel Hains and six other members of the Bathurst High School basketball team were killed, along with the wife of their coach, when their van collided with a transport truck as the team was driving home late at night from a game in Moncton, N.B.," Canwest News Service reported on Sept. 8.

"A Transport Canada investigation blamed the accident on a slippery winter highway, an improperly maintained vehicle without snow tires and driver fatigue. The subsequent inquest exposed the mistakes of school officials, who made careless decisions about travel in bad weather, and who said they were ignorant of vehicle maintenance standards. It also revealed a system -- in place throughout Canada -- of school districts making their own random choices about extracurricular travel, in the absence of strong provincial or national standards.

"Nearly two years after the tragedy, only Quebec and New Brunswick have made significant changes to the way children travel to off-site school events," Canwest's Richard Foot reported.

http://www2.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/national/story.html?id=07895310-2a8d-4b63-bd83-4833783b0536&p=2

6 - Bounce landing training for pilots: Transportation Safety Board

"A cargo jet's rough touchdown at Hamilton airport last year has prompted a call for better pilot training to handle bounce landings. ... (The Transportation Safety Board of Canada) has recommended the Department of Transport require all air carriers to incorporate bounced landing recovery techniques in their manuals and training activities," the Hamilton Spectator reported on Sept. 10.

"Without training to improve skill with such manoeuvres, there's an unacceptable risk to crews and the travelling public, the board said."

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/631880

7 - 36,7 millions de la municipalité pour l'annuation de la controversée ligne nord-sud: Ottawa

« La saga juciciaire sur le train léger opposant depuis plus de deux ans la Ville d'Ottawa à la compagnie Siemens pourrait fort bien se terminer aujourd'hui. Le maire Larry O'Brien a convoqué d'urgence une réunion extraordinaire du conseil municipal, à 9 h ce matin, pour discuter de l'entente à l'amiable ... 'Nous espérons que tout cela sera derrière nous ... ' a déclaré le maire aux médias, hier » Dominique La Haye écrivait au Droit le 11 septembre.

« La rencontre d'aujourd'hui survient après que le conseil s'est réuni pendant six heures, mercredi, pour discuter d'offre de Siemens etde Ciment St-Laurent qui chercherait à obtenir la somme de 36,7 millions de la municipalité pour l'annuation de la controversée ligne nord-sud jadis planifiée par la municipalité et dont le contrat de constuction et d'équipement avait été accordé aux deux compagnies. »

8 - CUTA predicts dramatic transit ridership growth

On Sept. 4 Canadian Urban Transit Association released Transit Vision 2040 a guide to transit growth into the future. The vision has six major themes that call for action from governments and transit systems:

1. Put transit at the centre of communities
2. Revolutionize service
3. Focus on customers
4. Green transit
5. Ensure the financial health of transit
6. Strengthen knowledge and practice

CUTA is the national association representing public transit systems, suppliers to the industry, government agencies, individuals and related organizations in Canada.

http://www.cutaactu.ca/en/node/1872

9 - 2040: Une croissance de 86 % du transport collectif

Le transport collectif de même l'investissement à cet égard à l'échelle nationale ont tous deux atteint le 4 septembre des sommets inégalés et le transport collectif est le fer de lance essentiel à la prospérité et à la vie de toute collectivité.

Toutefois, selon un rapport détaillé de l'Association canadienne du transport urbain (ACTU), les gouvernements et les réseaux de transport doivent prendre des mesures proactives pour s'assurer que le transport collectif maximise son plein potentiel.

La Vision 2040 prévoit une croissance de 86 % du transport collectif d'ici 2040. Sans une approche coordonnée et stratégique, les réseaux de transport du Canada ne seront pas en mesure de contribuer pleinement à notre qualité de vie.

10 - Ontario government announces $1.5 upgrade of Sudbury to Sault railway

The McGuinty government is supporting the City of Sault Ste. Marie and local industry with a $1.5 million investment to upgrade commercial rail service between Sault Ste. Marie, Espanola and Sudbury David Orazietti, MPP for Sault Ste. Marie and Mike Brown, MPP for Algoma-Manitoulin announced Sept. 10. The amount granted by Ontario matches an identical sum from the federal government announced Aug. 25.

"By investing in these rail line upgrades, our government is supporting the employment of 45 staff at the railway and nearly 100 other indirect jobs that have an immense positive economic impact on our region," said Brown. "This will allow Domtar to continue to move its product along the rail line."

In 2008, the Huron Central Railway handled more than 16,000 carloads of freight. Transporting this freight by trucks would add between 20,000 and 40,000 truck loads on area highways.

http://www.captrains.ca

11 - VTPI: Smart growth gaining as a consumer preference

"Where We Want To Be: Home Location Preferences And Their Implications For Smart Growth" was issued by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute on Sept. 8. "Smart growth consists of more compact, accessible, multi-modal community development. This can provide numerous benefits to residents who live in such areas and society overall. Critics claim that most consumers dislike this type of community and so are harmed by public policies that encourage it. This analysis suggests otherwise," VTPI's Todd Litman wrote.

"Although market surveys indicate that most North American households preferred single-family homes, they also indicate strong and growing consumer preference for smart growth features such as accessibility and modal options (reflected as short commutes and convenient walkability to local services). Twenty years ago less than a third of households preferred smart growth, but this is projected to increase to two thirds of households within two decades," Litman wrote.

http://www.vtpi.org/

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www.transport2000.ca.