Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

12 October 2001

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 623, recorded on 12 October 2001, our 25th anniversary year, Bert Titcomb reporting for Harry Gow.

In this issue...

In this issue, air, rail and transit news.

1 - Air Canada discount carrier begins

(Financial Post): Air Canada has launched a new discount carrier named Tango in a bid to cut capacity and revive flagging air travel. The new carrier will operate a fleet of 13 Airbus A320s and offer short and long haul flights to eight Canadian cities and three destinations in Florida, beginning November 1st. The carrier will have Air Canada staff, but will charge for meals and entertainment, and said fares will be up to 80% less expensive than regular economy fares. A western version called Zip could be announced next week. Transport 2000 cautioned that the road ahead could be difficult for Air Canada, but wished the carrier luck in media interviews.

AC had earlier announced 5000 layoffs on top of 4000 announced previously.

2 - Federal air security upgrades

Minister of Transport David Collenette has announced $90 million worth of security equipment and staff for airport security, ports, additional customs staff, and related matters. No money was announced for security on surface public transport. The message seems to be double: air passengers are at risk and surface public transport passengers do not need (or merit?) protection.

3 - Ottawa light rail will finally open

The Ottawa diesel light rail project is having a painful birth - in the words of the Ottawa Citizen it "crawl(s) toward a mid-October launch." This is apparently due to some planning glitches and technical problems, such as damage to the small idler wheels on the two east-west crossing diamonds and a slow order over part of the line. In defence of OC Transpo and CPR it can be said that a lot of innovation is going on, even if the Calgary DLRT experiment a few years back showed the way. The opening will now occur at 2pm on Monday, 15th October. Many persons who were invited to the aborted opening a month ago have not been re-invited. There is concern that the new, slower 20-minute schedule may deter passengers who expected a 15-minute schedule and frequency. The City hopes to persuade federal authorities to raise the speed limit; the slow-order names CN and CP so in principle it does not apply to OC Transpo. (Comment: if the service operates on a regular, on-time basis, it can succeed. Reliability and comfort are important, although speed and frequency are big crowd-pleasers).

4 - Hazards of road noise

Bert Titcomb had an op-ed piece published in the Ottawa Citizen: "Noise can cause major health problems". The article features traffic noise, and states that trucks make as much noise as 32 cars. Even buses can produce 90 decibels when accelerating. Noise can cause permanent hearing damage, contribute to circulatory and heart disease problems, and affect the quality of sleep. (All this has direct implications for health and quality of life).

5 - CN/WC merger activities

Canadian National Railway has begun integrating Wisconsin Central Railway into its operations. CN paid US $1.2 billion for the railway, which will give CN better access to Chicago from the west. Some Canadians worry that CN will ship increasing amounts of freight through Chicago to the detriment of its line through Northern Ontario.

6 - More intermodal rail

CNR and CPR have reported increased intermodal traffic in September, despite the economic downturn, because of extra business due to truck slowdowns at the border following the 11th September terrorist attacks.

7 - CN/UP intermodal service starts

Canadian National Railway and Union Pacific Railroad said they have begun an intermodal shipment service between central Canada, Michigan, Texas, and Mexico City. This is the first in a series of joint initiatives to compete with truck transport. (Source: F.P.)

8 - Urban issues forum

Harry Gow, Transport 2000 Canada's President, has been invited to the Prime Minister's Forum on Urban Issues on 21st October. A Forum meeting at York University drew "only a handful of (905) area politicians" on 9th October. Perhaps the Toronto exurban politicians are living in denial of the problems engendered by sprawl because of unenlightened self-interest (?). A sample of their "thinking" was given by planning consultant Joe Berridge, who held that money can't just be poured into public transit at the direct expense of new road expansion, he claimed "forcing people out of their cars" had "been tried in places like England and it has always failed". Comment: what are these places that are "like England"? We would certainly like to know because it has NOT been tried in England, UK, on the contrary. Huge amounts of money have been invested in roads leading to enormous increases of car and lorry traffic on British roads. Perhaps if you tell a big enough tale, people will believe it, but inventing 'facts' is all too current among road lobby consultants, unhappily.

9 - Railtrack fails, to be de-privatised

Railtrack, plc, the miserable UK rail infrastructure provider that put shareholder dividends ahead of safety and caused a number of spectacular deadly train crashes is to be turned into a non-profit holding under the control of the British Government. This follows a short, nasty and brutal career of self-interested mismanagement and bottom-line oriented short-term decisions by this, the worst of a bad lot of privatised companies in Great Britain. Transport 2000 Canada considers this a warning for the Canadian Government, which is considering the report of the CTA Review Committee which has proposed more of that wonderful panacea, privatisation, this time for the likes of VIA Rail.

10 - Air safety expert speaks out on private security

Air transport safety expert, David St John of Winnipeg, held on Radio-Canada TV a few weeks ago that privatisation and commercialisation, with their bottom-line obsessed practitioners, has debased safety standards in North American airports. Replacing government employees with 'rent-a-cops', he held, led to near-exclusive concern with profits. At the same time, other media reports documented airports in the USA with security staff turnover at 400% per annum - 80% non-US citizens earning minimum wage. This made things easy for the terrorists. At Pearson, staff make around 9 dollars an hour, but the question remains; would you rather your safety were entrusted to a private firm with profit concerns, or public servants with loyalty to the State and its citizens?

Thanks to Post Time, the Citizen, the Financial Post for these items.

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www.transport2000.ca.