Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

27 July 2001

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 612, recorded on 27 July 2001, our 25th anniversary year, Bert Titcomb reporting.

In this issue...

In this issue, aviation, trucking, Vancouver transit strike, B.C. Rail and other news.

Headlines

1 - Runway incursions on Canadian runways have jumped 145%
2 - Big trucks are more of risk than cars according to a CAA report
3 - Asleep at the wheel
4 - Transit strike in Vancouver creates second-class citizens
5 - BC Rail losses

1 - Runway incursions on Canadian runways have jumped 145%

More people, planes and vehicles have been turning up on Canada's runways without clearance in recent years, A Transport Canada report has found. The federal agency studied the frequency of these incidents, and found a 145 per cent increase in four years - 257 incidents occurred in 2000. The report did not identify one single cause, but Transport Canada said increased volume and complexity at airports could be a factor. While no lives have been lost in runway incursions, there were 48 incidents serious enough to warrant investigation by the Transportation Safety Board last year. Calgary International Airport was singled out as the facility with consistently high numbers of incursions.

2 - Big trucks are more of risk than cars according to a CAA report

Big trucks are more dangerous to other vehicles and drivers than the trucking industry would have the public believe, the CAA said this week. Using information recently made public by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, the CAA calculated that tractor trailers and other heavy trucks are involved in 12.5 per cent of fatal accidents in the province, even though those trucks make up only 2.6 per cent of the vehicles on the road. The CAA called attention to the issue in response to the Ontario Trucking Association's claim earlier this month that "tractor trailers and their drivers are the safest road users in the province by far."

David Leonhardt, spokesman for CAA Ontario, said "Tractor trailers are clearly much, much more dangerous (than other vehicles) and it is irresponsible for the trucking association to try to whitewash that danger." Mr. Leonhardt, whose organization represents 1.8 million members in Ontario and 4.2 million across Canada, says that while trucks are less likely to cause or be involved in accidents, the consequences are far more serious.

3 - Asleep at the wheel

The Ottawa Citizen recently published a series of articles on Canada's trucking industry and its problems. CRASH has reproduced these articles and has supplied the office with a copy. If anyone wants a copy, please contact the national office. The cost will be $10 per copy to cover the cost of the paper and photocopy costs.

4 - Transit strike in Vancouver creates second-class citizens

The lower mainland transit strike should shatter any illusions that we live in a classless society. The hardest hit victims are an underclass made up of the old, the poor and the unwell - people who are easy for governments to ignore. They can't afford ad campaigns or lobbyists, they don't know how to win the media's attention and even if they could organize protests, they couldn't get to them. They are second-class citizens.

If you doubt that claim, imagine that a construction strike had closed the Lions Gate bridge to vehicle traffic. There is no chance that after 100 days the bridge would still be blocked. Government intervention - either direct or behind the scenes - would have the bridge re-opened within hours, not days.

The difference isn't the importance of the transportation link. About 500 000 people a day used the buses before the strike; about one-third that number use the bridge. Drivers have alternatives to the bridge; about 40 per cent of transit users don't have access to a vehicle.

The difference is in the victims. A bridge closure would hit the affluent commuters from West Vancouver. They would be unwilling to take a longer route or to walk. They would call their MLAs and cabinet ministers, whom they would know, and they would make their case in the media.

In the meantime, people dependent on the buses are losing work. Seniors are trapped in their homes, children are missing medical appointments and businesses that rely on bus travellers are sliding toward bankruptcy. Government intervention in labour disputes is rarely justified, but in this case the only responsible option.

5 - BC Rail losses

BC Rail lost $8 million last year, $3 million more than in 1999 as a result of declining freight rates and the closure of the Quintette coal mine. The closure of the Bullmoose coal mine in 2004 will result in another $8 million loss.

President and CEO Bob Phillips noted that freight rates have fallen 50% over the last 15 years as a result of competition from trucks. Privatization is apparently not being considered at this time. Phillips also noted that $30 million will have to be spent within the next two years to refurbish or replace the railway's ageing RDCs. This is a sum not be found in the railway's current budget.

The North Vancouver - Prince George service carried 82 000 riders last year, at a cost to BC Rail of $5 - 6 million. The service is primarily used by summer tourists but gives the railway a public face that Phillips values. However, he wonders, "whether the money lost could not be better spent in another way to promote tourism to these communities." $12 million is also needed to refurbish BC Rail's two steam trains - the Royal Hudson is currently out of commission. All told, BC Rail's passenger services carried 178 000 passengers in 2000 and lost $9 - 10 million. The Pacific Starlight dinner train broke even but the Northwind tour train, launched last April, has performed below expectations.

Thank you for calling the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline. Thanks to various individuals for the above information, Bob Evans, Ken Moir and Ian Fisher. For additional information, please contact our web site at: