TransportAction is published bi-monthly by Transport 2000 Canada, a national federation of consumers devoted to the public interest in transportation.
Publié à tous les deux mois par Transport 2000 Canada, une fédération nationale d’usagers dont le but est de voir à l’avancement de l’intérêt public en matière de transport.
Bureau National Office
Suite 100, 117 Sparks St.
Ottawa, ON
P.O. Box 858, Stn. B
Ottawa, ON. K1P 5P9
President: Harry Gow
Office Mgr.: Bert Titcomb
Membership: Martin Collicott
Editor: Bert Titcomb
Tel. (613) 594-3290
Fax. (613) 594-3271
Hotline 1-800-771-5035
EMail: t2000@transport2000.ca
Web: www.transport2000.ca
In This Issue ....
How is it that a nation founded on train travel has allowed its passenger rail network to become ramshackle, if not obsolete? Whatever the reasons, which are bound to be hotly debated in the months ahead, VIA Rail Canada Inc. has reached the crossroads. The passenger network is threadbare and will soon face equipment shortfalls that could force more service cuts if it does not get more federal money, sources say.
David Collenette, the Transport Minister, was to have put his long-delayed blueprint for VIA’s restructuring to cabinet late in November. The target is now Christmas or early 2000. (Announcement has been delayed until March 31st)
“Any civilized country needs the backbone of a sound passenger rail system as an economical alternative,” said John Bakker, a former University of Alberta transportation specialist, who has long held VIA could raise revenues significantly by carrying express and freight and adding consumer services. “We’ve run the system down for years and now Canada is 20 years behind the U.S., let alone Europe and Japan,” he said.
What have your contributions supported? Among other things, we have been able to ensure an increased media presence, and we have worked hard on several pressing issues:
Thank you!
Harry Gow, President
(* for details see PIAC website at: www.piac.ca)
Admitting that he was spurred to act by a travel horror story of his own, Bob Runciman said travellers should know exactly what they’re getting for their discount air tickets and have a forum for lodging complaints and demanding refunds.
Setting down minimum standards for the industry is even more important now with the proposed merger of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines, he said. Mr. Runciman said his government will call on the federal government to pass new regulations but said the province may be able to take some action itself. “I think it’s a very serious problem,” he said.
“The quality of air-travel services is an issue for consumers, who are sick of long delays, cancelled flights and wrong information from airlines.” His comments came after a meeting with representatives from the travel industry and consumer organizations (including T2000Can).
Mr. Runciman and the interest groups proposed a formal complaints mechanism with a 24-hour hotline and rules that:
He said that he and his wife had booked a holiday in Barbados earlier this year on a well-known charter airline he would not name. The flight was supposed to leave at 8 a.m., but after a series of delays with inadequate explanations, it was rescheduled to depart that evening. At that point, the minister and his wife decided they’d had enough and went home. Mr. Runciman said he asked his credit-card company not to process the charge and hired a lawyer to fight the airline. He eventually received a refund.
Bruce Hood of the Association of Canadian Travel Agents said his members are “inundated” with complaints about airlines. Mr. Runciman promised to release a formal report on the issue early next year.
More and more motorists are on Canadian highways, but fewer people are dying as a result of collisions. Road fatalities are down 4.5 per cent in 1998 compared to 1997, according to national motor vehicle collision statistics released in December 99. Injuries were down 1.7 per cent. According to Transport Canada, road fatalities are at their lowest levels in 43 years.
In the almost 151,000 collisions in which a causality was recorded, 2927 people were killed and 217,614 were injured. The majority of the fatalities involved drivers, with 1479 deaths, while passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians made up the remainder.
Grouped by age, people 65 years and up represented the largest group of fatalities, followed by those 25 to 34 years of age. The most injuries were suffered by those 35 to 44 years of age. The most treacherous time of day to be on the road is rush hour, between 3 and 6 p.m. Ironically, the majority of fatalities and injuries, 80 per cent, did not occur on slick, snow or ice-covered roads at night, but occurred on clear days.
The statistics are collected annually by Transport Canada in conjunction with the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, which culls it figures from police reports.
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2927 deaths is the equivalent of about
13 large jets crashing without a survivor!
217,614 injuries means
25 injuries per hour for 365 days!
What is the real cost of such accidents?
When are Canadian police forces going to
enforce the existing regulations regarding
excessive speeding, drunk drivers,
reckless driving, etc?
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He was apparently not surprised. No wonder, since the industry has been lobbying for years to have the regulated hours behind the wheel extended. About 10 years ago, the industry persuaded governments to allow averaging of the 60 hour per week limit. A trucker can drive more than 60 hours in one week if he or she reduces hours in the following week.
Now the industry has persuaded governments to propose increasing the limit to 80 or 84 hours a week, week after week -- the equivalent of two full-time jobs. This is totally unreasonable for people driving heavy trucks on public roads.
Bradley says, “We have got to try to get regulation that accommodates what human beings are going to do.”
If that was the way we established our regulations covering drinking and driving, for example, you can imagine the chaos and death that would result. I think the same is going to be true for consecutive 80 or 84 hour work weeks.
Transport Canada is ignoring its own scientific panel, which said that the proposed increase in hours of work to 84 hours per week would be dangerous for both truck drivers and other road users. It said there was no scientific evidence to support increasing truck driver hours beyond the current 60 hours per week.
Fatigue kills. On average, each year in Canada there are already about 43,000 collisions involving big trucks that kill or injure 12,000 people.
If this change is implemented, big trucks will increase dramatically and many more motorists and truck drivers will die each year.
John M, Conrod
Thunder Bay
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How many serious truck accidents occurred in 1999?
On December 20th, Canadian National Railway announced it will unite with U.S. based Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. to create the largest railway operation on the N.A. continent.
“It’s an excellent transaction for Canada,” CN’s president and chief executive, Paul Tellier, told a news conference. “Giants dominate the rail industry, and putting these two companies together will secure the future of CN.”
The combined railways will have 80,000 kilometres of track, 67,000 employees, annual revenues of $18 billion and a market capitalization of $28 billion.
Mr. Tellier said that Montreal will be the headquarters of the combined system. “The decision-making centre of the new railway will be here, with all that entails in terms of economic influence and impact on the community.” About 1000 jobs could be lost in combining the two networks, but there could be job gains five years after the transaction.
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“This puts us in a unique position,” David Bellefontaine said on December 20th. “We will be able to access the entire western U.S. through one entity (CN Rail), which we cannot do today,” he said. “We can access it, but not through one company. There is more complexity.”
The announcement of the rail merger is “a major development for Halifax,” said Wade Elliott, executive director of the Halifax Port Development Commission. “It expands our hinterland significantly by giving the Burlington Northern Santa Fe customers direct access to the East Coast for the first time and, in a nutshell, makes Halifax a powerful option for U.S. shippers.”
Customers west of Chicago will have single-line, double-stack cleared access to the Port of Halifax, the N.A. deepwater port closest to Europe, trimming days of transit time to points on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe system.
Mr. Bellefontaine said the merger will also put Halifax in competition with West Coast ports.
A lot of patience, a good dose of awareness, and a habit of
keeping a safe distance.
On December 8th, OC Transpo Commission announced it had agreed to knock $4 off the regular price of the senior monthly pass, starting January 1st, 2000.
Seniors were given a one-time break in June 1999, when the $28 pass price was reduced to $19.99 until the end of the year to celebrate the International Year of Older Persons. Without the commission’s intervention, the price would have gone back to $28 on January 1st. The Commission’s decision means that the senior pass will cost only $24 per month for the year 2000. The senior pass is sold at more than 300 vendors throughout the region.
On December 13th, OC Transpo announced that travellers arriving at Ottawa Airport will now be able to purchase OC Transpo bus tickets and DayPasses and hop on a bus for a quick and affordable ride to downtown and beyond. “The DayPass is a real bargain when you consider it gives you all-day unlimited access to 31 kilometres of rapid transit service on the Transitway and 150 routes covering every corner of the region,” said OC Transpo Chair Al Loney.
Riders can board the route 97 bus right outside the main door. The ride downtown on the Transitway takes about 20 minutes and costs $1.50 one-way. The route continues out to Kanata and will benefit travellers accessing that area and the high tech sector. The 97 bus operates to the from the airport, 7 days a week, 21 hours per day. Departures are every 15 minutes.
One really has to wonder if the powers that be in Halifax and Ottawa have really got their act together on the transportation problem. Or are they so preoccupied with advanced technology that they believe that aircraft and road-bound motor vehicles are the answer to the transportation infrastructure needs of Atlantic Canada’s struggle to keep moving economically?
(While rummaging through some old files left in the national office recently by Bob Evans, former president of T2000 Canada, the editor came across this article by Duncan Fraser from an issue of The Chronicle-Herald, dated 7 March 1992!)
And while you save, you’ll do your share to reduce the threats of air pollution and global warming. Here are some tips on how you can do it:
Today’s rising gas prices can help us to become more efficient, as they have in the past. This means more money in your pocket, cleaner air, better public health, and a small part on protection from global warming.
Gerry Scott
Director, climate change campaign,
David Suzuki Foundation
Light Rail has been a success in virtually every US city which has tried it. This is encouraging yet more US cities to follow the light rail trail.
Urban passenger rail transport in the U.S. has come full circle. The damage done during the 1950s and 1960s, when scores of U.S. cities abandoned their often extensive urban rail networks in favour of the private automobile, is now being repaired. At the nadir of U.S. urban rail contraction, only nine cities had rail systems. Today the number has reached 25, and it is still rising.
As far as light rail is concerned, there are now 17 systems in service, of which seven are being extended. Three new systems are under construction, work will start soon on two more projects, and others are being planned or studied.
There is little doubt about the success of light rail where it has been introduced and its ability to get people to leave their beloved cars behind and take public transport. St. Louis, for example, expected 17,000 people per weekday to use the 29 km Metrolink LRT line in its first year of operation. But it averaged nearly double this number at 30,000 riders per weekday.
Traffic now tops 42,000 trips a day and is still growing. What is more, about 80% of Metrolink riders used to travel by car. Unlike bus, Metrolink is also able to attract higher wage earners as around half of its passengers earn more than $US 35,000 a year and a quarter have salaries above $US 55,000.
The City of Portland, Oregon, has used its MAX light rail system to regenerate the city centre, which was in a spiral of decline. MAX has been the key to redeveloping the city area by area to provide new amenities and housing. The city even demolished a multi-storey car park and replaced it with a plaza, wheras without MAX eight additional multi-storey car parks would have been needed in the city centre plus extra lanes on each major road linking the suburbs with the city centre.
The success of systems like MAX, and the realisation that urban areas cannot survive let alone prosper with a total reliance on road transport alone, are spurring other U.S. cities to develop their own LRT systems.
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Canadian transportation officials should
travel to the U.S. and discover the
changes in urban transportation