SeaBus service across Burrard Inlet resumes Saturday 4th July. Coast Mountain Bus Company's bus routes in Greater Vancouver will be back in service on Tuesday, 7th August. When bus service resumes, there will be three days of free transit service on Coast Mountain's buses, SeaBus, West Vancouver's Blue Buses, SkyTrain and HandyDart.
Coast Mountain seemed pleased about the back-to-work legislation, expecting that it will support its plans to contract out services under certain conditions, and also its plans to introduce part-time and work rule changes. Some arbitration issues with the CAW union remain to be settled.
Some of the car pooling arrangements during the strike may continue long after bus service resumes. Other car poolers may be eager to get back on the bus, depending on their experience in the car pools.
Yet a poll in late July indicates that the bus strike was not a major inconvenience for most Vancouver residents. These findings are likely due to the predominance of the automobile and the perception that transit is for lower class citizens and tourists.
The longest transit labour stoppage in Canadian history is believed to be the nine-month long Québec City bus strike in 1981. This latest Vancouver strike began 1st April.
The airline blames the reduced fortunes on a weak economy combined with fewer business trips and more national airline competition. Some observers blame the huge costs and consumer turmoil involved in absorbing Canadian Airlines.
Air Canada announced it plans to keep its commitments to workers following the Canadian Airlines merger. This means those who were employees of Air Canada or Canadian as of 23 December 1999 would be protected from job actions until March 2002 (a date based on earlier Air Canada commitments). 1800 employees hired after the job commitment time point will be discarded as of 22 November 2001. The other 2200 layoffs will occur after the job commitment period expires.
The airline will also be eliminating some of its older airplanes, particularly some wide-body Boeing 767-200 and 767-300 aircraft. The airline will also end its leases of a Boeing 767-400 and two Airbus 340-300s by next year. Air Canada will also be taking on new narrow-body aircraft to ensure a more fuel-efficient and younger fleet.
Air Canada intends to start its separate discount airline, and some aircraft will be transferred in the process.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance was pleased to see a recommendation for "a national highway infrastructure investment agency, funded through road fuel taxes", but objected to weight-distance tax proposals. The Trucking Alliance also objected to the panel report's notions of "full-cost accounting" in the transportation system. The Alliance also wanted to see more specifics in trucking regulation.
Canadian Pacific Railway was pleased to see that the panel recommendations supported the presence of two major national rail carriers. But the railway warned that some of the panel rail proposals could give American rail carriers an unfair advantage over CP and CN.
The Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) reacted positively to panel proposals that the federal government be involved in urban transit funding. CUTA was also pleased to see the promotion of dedicating a portion of the federal fuel tax to transit, given the expected major transit investment needs in the future.
VIA Rail Canada did not offer any immediate opinion to the review panel report.
Marc LeFrançois will also become VIA's CEO, also effective 1st September. The long-time director of the passenger rail carrier has been acting Chair and CEO since last October.
Should that bid succeed, Olympic facilities will be in both Vancouver and Whistler. Transportation between the two centres will be the most serious hurdle, given the winding alignments of both the Sea-to-Sky Highway and the BC Rail line.
A recent report indicates at least 4 buses per minute could be required during peak movement times, particularly in the morning as events get under way.
The BC Rail line between North Vancouver and Whistler could have departures every half hour, with 10-car trains each carrying 1300 passengers. There were no details on why more frequent train service was precluded, but the trackage involved is not known for high speed operation.
Even marine options are being explored. A port at Squamish could connect to train service with Whistler.
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is trying to find an answer to this question. Generally, the national transport regulator must determine whether obesity should be declared to be a disability.
This follows a passenger's complaint to the CTA against Air Canada, where the carrier charges an extra half-fare when a passenger requires an extra seat. The CTA will hold a hearing in Calgary next month on the subject, since disabilities are generally not defined under the Canada Transportation Act.
There is no available advocacy group that promotes the position that obesity is a disability. The CTA therefore appointed Peter Engelmann as an amicus curiae, or independent individual, in these proceedings to find evidence and arguments that would support the inclusion of obesity as a disability for CTA's purposes.
A decision on this matter could affect all federally-regulated passenger transportation, including Air Canada and VIA Rail.
Reference: CTA website: www.cta-otc.gc.ca.
At a minimum $2.60 cash per trip, or $2.10 using pre-paid tickets, Hull, Quebec's STO has the highest such regular fares in Canada. Toronto and Ottawa fares are not too far behind. St John's, Newfoundland had the cheapest fares of the cities surveyed: $1.50 cash or $1.35 in multiple pre-paid tickets.
Toronto's monthly passes are the most expensive regular passes in Canada. TTC's $93.50 Metropass cost is far beyond second-place Vancouver's 1-zone pass of $63.00. This is less than Vancouver's premium 3-zone pass of $120.00, however. Montreal has the cheapest regular monthly passes of the surveyed cities at $48.50.
Some excerpts from that comparison:
Hull, QC $2.60-$4.70 (depending on regular, express, interzone) Ottawa, ON $2.25-$3.50 (regular-express) Toronto, ON $2.25 Hamilton, ON $2.00 Montreal, QC $2.00 Vancouver, BC $1.75-$3.50 (depending on zone, time) Calgary, AB $1.75 Halifax, NS $1.65 Winnipeg, MB $1.65 St John's, NF $1.50
Hull, QC $2.10-$4.20 (depending on regular, express, interzone) Toronto, ON $1.80 (5 for $9.00) Ottawa, ON $1.70-$2.55 (depending on regular or express) Vancouver, BC $1.60-$3.25 (10 tickets, depending on zone and time) Winnipeg, MB $1.60 (10 for $16.00) Halifax, NS $1.50 (20 for $30.00) Hamilton, ON $1.50 (5 for $7.50) Calgary, AB $1.45-$1.55 (10 for $14.50 or 5 for $7.75) Montreal, QC $1.42 (6 for $8.50) St John's, NF $1.35 (10 for $13.50)
Toronto, ON $93.50 (annual discount program available) Vancouver, BC $63.00-$120.00 (depending on zone) Winnipeg, MB $61.60 Ottawa, ON $59.50-$73.50 (regular-express) Hull, QC $59.00-$101.00 (depending on regular, express, interzone) Hamilton, ON $58.00 Halifax, NS $57.00 St John's, NF $55.00 Calgary, AB $52.50 Montreal, QC $48.50The August issue of Ottawa Transit Bulletin may be found on the Auto-Free Ottawa discussion board.
Various city transit systems were amalgamated in 1921 to form the TTC. Since then, 23 billion trips have been recorded.