Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

18 December 2009

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 1051, for 18 December 2009.

In this issue...

1 - Création d'un service permanent d'autobus rapide sur Pie-IX à Laval et Montréal

L'association Transport 2000 Québec, qui avait fait de ce projet une priorité voire une urgence nationale, accueille aujourd'hui (le 16 décembre) avec joie l'annonce d'un service de transport rapide par bus (SRB) à Montréal sur le boulevard Pie-IX, qui devrait ensuite être étendu à Laval et au centre-ville de la Métropole. En revanche, compte tenu des délais inhérents à la concrétisation du projet (vers 2013), l'Association demande de rétablir provisoirement la voie réservée à contresens. Son président monsieur Jean Léveillé se dit même prêt à collaborer à un comité de suivi pour la sécurité et la qualité du service. Cette mesure permettrait à très court terme d'améliorer le service actuel, compromis depuis la suspension du service en site propre (heures de pointe) depuis 2002. On rappelle que le R-Bus 505 a contribué à transporter plus de 150 millions de passagers entre sa création en 1990 et la suspension intervenue en juin 2002.

2 - Metrolinx pays CN $68 million for line saved by Transport 2000

On Dec. 15 Metrolinx announced it has purchased from CN the lower portion of the Newmarket Subdivision in central-north Toronto for $68 million. The transaction gives Metrolinx end-to-end ownership of the 60-mile-long Barrie-Bradford GO Train corridor between downtown Toronto and Barrie, Ont. - a first for the government transit agency, CNW Group reported. For many years Transport 2000, among others, worked hard to prevent CN from tearing up the track. Transport 2000 Ontario President Natalie Litwin praised the work of Tony Turritin and Ross Snetsinger.

3 - Bus line asked for details on route cuts: Transport Action Atlantic

"Acadian Coach Lines is going to have to get specific about plans to cut bus routes in New Brunswick. The province's Energy and Utilities Board is asking the company for detailed information about ridership and costs on the two routes it wants to drop," the Daily Gleaner reported on Dec. 15

"Mike Perry, a board member with Transport Action Atlantic - which just changed its name from Transport 2000 Atlantic - said the board should have more in-depth information before making a decision. 'I think it's very good that they are doing that. I think they do need more details about (Acadian's) decision.' Perry, a resident of Charlotte County where service is to be cut, said he blames Acadian for poor ridership on his area's line The once-a-day route isn't set up for day trips or commuters, he said. The bus arrives in Saint John after 5 p.m. and a traveller bound for St. Stephen can't leave the port city until 2:20 p.m. the next day," Gleaner reporter Shawn Berry wrote.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/890147

4 - La renaissance des trains de banlieue: Merci Transport 2000

« La gare Île-Bigras plongera dans un bain de jouvence, en 2010, alors que l'Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) consacrera 1,4 M$ à sa réhabilitation. ... On avait raté le coche, en 1992, pour la gare Île-Bigras, située sur une des trois îles de Sainte-Dorothée. Elle n'avait pas vraiment fait peau neuve lors des travaux amorcés cette année-là, qui ont abouti à la modernisation complète de la ligne Deux-Montagnes, en 1995 » Quartier Ste-Dorothée a rapporté dans l'edition le 19 décembre.

« Cette réfection avait marqué le coup de la renaissance des trains de banlieue dans la région montréalaise, qui coïncidait également avec la création de l'AMT, qui a pris en main la destinée du réseau en 1996. ... Lors d'une réunion d'information et de consultation publique tenue par l'AMT au profit des usagers de la ligne Deux-Montagnes, en novembre dernier, une utilisatrice de longue date a souligné le rôle de Guy Chartrand, ex-président de l'organisme Transport 2000, dans la relance de cette ligne » Nathalie Villeneuve a écrit.

5 - Edmonton LRT plan is in place. Now about the money ...

"Tuesday afternoon, by a vote of 9-4, Edmonton city council finally made a decision on the future of LRT. ... They approved three alignments: a new northern line to NAIT, with a new stop at the City Centre Airport; a northwest line, running from Lewis Estates and West Edmonton Mall to MacEwan University, along Stony Plain Road; and a southeast line, from MacEwan to Mill Woods, via Connor's Road, and 82nd Street," the Edmonton Journal reported on Dec. 17.

"The total estimated cost of the three new lines is well over $3 billion. Now that the chosen alignments are finalized, council is ready to approach the province and the federal government for support. ... Tuesday, (Mayor) Mandel suggested property tax increases of 10 to 11 per cent might be needed, even with provincial and federal support, just to pay for Edmonton's share of the LRT. ... 'If we don't fund it, let's stop talking about it,' the mayor told council bluntly. Yes, the routes are chosen. Now, it's time to see if councillors and taxpayers truly want to get on board," the Journal's Paula Simons wrote.

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=2cecdd9e-37a4-4c6d-9553-ac87bcf3bf69

6 - Transport 2000 urges extension of O-Train to Wakefield

"Four environmental groups want O-Train or trolley service to Wakefield to get Gatineau Hills residents out of their cars and onto public transit. Joseph Potvin, chair of Greenspace Alliance, said the plan would cost about $37 million, less than the $115 million the federal and Quebec governments will spend to extend the four-lane Highway 5 from Farm Point to Wakefield," the Ottawa Citizen reported on Dec. 10.

"Greenspace Alliance, Transport 2000, Friends of the O-Train and the Conseil régionale de l'environnement et du développement durable de l'Outaouais have asked the National Capital Commission to do a feasibility study of the proposal that would examine Ottawa-Gatineau transit. ... Potvin said the O-Train could run to Wakefield if the Prince of Wales railway bridge on the Ottawa River is repaired and the track to Wakefield is upgraded to carry passenger trains," the Citizen's Dave Rogers reported.

http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Groups+Train+bound+Wakefield/2327218/story.html

7 - Acadian bus line plans service cuts in Cape Breton

"Acadian Intercity Coaches LP has applied to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board and New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board to make the schedule changes, which would include dropping one of three daily bus runs from Sydney to Halifax and one of three from Halifax to Sydney," the Cape Breton Post reported on Dec. 12.

"John Pearce, a director for the transportation advocacy group Transport 2000, said the proposed schedule changes between Sydney and Halifax don't fit with Acadian's new business model, which focuses on routes between cities and higher population areas and reduce rural service. 'They kind of ignore (the Cape Breton Regional Municipality) as a populous area," he said. "They have not acknowledged Cape Breton as anything but rural and I find their philosophy is poor to be cutting back'" the Post's Chris Hayes reported.

8 - VIA is serious about excellent rail service

VIA Rail CEO Paul Côté, in a letter to the Ottawa Citizen, wrote: "I have to disagree with (Andrew Cohon's Dec. 8) characterization of our service as "abysmal." We believe we are already providing an excellent and cost-effective service that is comfortable, convenient, safe and reliable. ... That VIA transported 4.6 million passengers in 2008 -- the most since 1989 -- certainly indicates to us that many Canadians agree. Furthermore, the federal government is currently investing $923 million -- not $300 million -- in the largest-ever capital renewal of VIA in its 32-year history," Côté said in his Dec. 12 letter to the Citizen.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/serious+about+rail/2315216/story.html

9 - Boundary Trails Railway Company: Young farmers go back to the future

"Maybe older farmers here had just lost too many times to big corporations to think they had any chance to save their rail line. And maybe they'd just seen too many grain elevators demolished, too many rail lines ripped up -- over 3,000 kilometres in Canada in the past dozen years -- and their voice in the grain industry reduced to a whimper, to think they could change things," the Winnipeg Free Press reported on Dec. 11.

"Then a group of young farmers in their 20s and 30s proved them wrong. ... In June, they bought the line and formed Manitoba's newest rail company, the Boundary Trails Railway Company. ... The (Regional Municipality) of Pembina chipped in $400,000 -- some of the compensation, as mandated by the Canada Transportation Act, that it received for line abandoned within its borders. The province chipped in a $615,000, not repayable unless the line is sold, and Ottawa $1 million. Mission Terminal Inc., with a terminal in Thunder Bay, became a 20 per cent shareholder," Free Press reporter Bill Redekop wrote.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/from-being-railroaded--to-future-rail-line-barons-79038347.html

10 - Victoria Transport Policy Institute: Win-win strategies to reduce emissions

When it comes to reducing emissions, transportation is special because it has so many impacts on people and the economy. Win-win strategies reduce climate change emission in ways that provide substantial co-benefits, including congestion reductions, infrastructure cost savings, consumer savings, traffic safety, improved mobility for non-drivers, and improved public fitness and health. Implemented to the degree justified by their economic benefits, these strategies can reduce emissions by 30-50% compared with what would otherwise occur. These are no-regret strategies that are justified regardless of any uncertainty about climate change risks.

http://www.vtpi.org/wwclimate.pdf

11 - Ragoût et tourtière sur la voie ferrée: Dignité rurale

« Des élus, des chefs religieux et des clients gaspésiens ont arrêté le train de passagers de VIA Rail, lundi vers 11h30, à Barachois en Gaspésie. Ils ont mangé du ragoût et de la tourtière sur la voie ferrée pour protester contre le retrait du service de restaurant sur la ligne Montréal-Gaspé » le Soleil a rapporté le 14 décembre.

« Nous, les citoyens, on va donner les repas que VIA ne veut pas donner», a lancé Cynthia Patterson, coordonnatrice de Dignité rurale et organisatrice de la manifestation. «On demande à ravoir le restaurant sur le train pour tout le monde, pas juste pour les touristes à Noël et en été » Geneviève Gélinas a écrit pour le Soleil.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/societe/200912/14/01-930990-ragout-et-tourtiere-sur-la-voie-ferree.php

Thank you for calling the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline. For additional information, please contact our web site at:

www.transport2000.ca.