Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

28 December 2001

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 634, recorded on 28 December 2001, our 25th anniversary year, Bert Titcomb reporting.

In this issue...

1 - Ontario Strategic Transportation Directions planning

The Ministry of Transportation for Ontario has announced it has prepared a draft Strategic Transportation Directions document for each of the eastern, southwestern, central and northern regions of Ontario. The Ministry plans to hold 15 workshops across the province from January 16th to February 21st. Members of Transport 2000 Canada are urged to attend these workshops. Anyone interested should contact David Bills at the Ministry of Transportation at the following co-ordinates:

1 866 201.3207 (toll free)
1 416 235.5325 (Toronto area calls)
1 416 235.5224 (fax)
David.Bills@mto.gov.on.ca (E-mail)

2 - Air traffic declines in 2001

According to an article in the Ottawa Citizen, 28 Dec 01, air traffic has declined for the first time since 1991. The devastating jetliner attacks in the U.S.A. sparked a six per cent drop in total world-wide air traffic in 2001, stated the International Civil Aviation Organization. The decrease represents the first year-over-year decline since 1991 according to preliminary results from a study that indicates a worldwide drop of about 60 million passengers and two million tonnes of freight in 2001. The steepest declines were recorded after the Sept 11th terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

3 - Calgary C-Train success

The January 02 issue of Trains has an interesting article on Calgary's C-Train. Daily loadings for the C-Trains are 188,000 passengers using 85 coaches. The associated bus system carries 233,000 passengers daily using 712 buses. The C-Train network has three lines totalling 20.4 miles and 33 stations. Calgary's per-day light rail ridership is exceeded only by Boston's Green line which carries 220,000 weekday riders. Calgary Transit is taking delivery of 15 new Siemens SD160 units in 2002 and will receive 17 more in 2003. Eleven of these units are required to meet ridership growth on existing lines and the rest are for additional miles to be added to the system. Calgary Transit is looking at the possibility of putting commuter trains on the Calgary end of the CPR line north to Edmonton.

4 - Nav Canada resumes weather reports from lighthouses

According to a recent press release from Nav Canada, they will resume providing key weather information originating from light stations on Canada's west coast that can be used in support of aviation. Starting early in 2002, this information, covering estimated cloud height and temperature/dew point will be added to the "remarks" section of the marine weather reports that Nav Canada provides to the B.C. aviation community. The marine weather reports, originating from 17 light stations operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, provide information such as cloud amount, visibility, precipitation or obstructions to visibility, wind estimates, sea state, atmospheric pressure at some light stations, and other remarks.

5 - Ottawa Transportation crunch

According to an article titled "Stretched to the limit" in the Ottawa Citizen, 26 Dec 01), The City of Ottawa sees new roads, bridges and trains as the solution to a transport system sorely congested by a 30-per cent population growth in the past 15 years. Every peak travel period on weekdays, morning and evening, an estimated 500,000 people take to the streets of the capital, clogging the Queensway and other major traffic arteries from Cumberland to Kanata.

About 350,000 of them are in cars, minivans and SUV's, mostly occupied by one person. About 80,000 people, about one in six of those on the move in peak periods, take the bus. The rest walk or cycle. In the past 15 years, the population of urban Ottawa has soared by 30 per cent, straining the city's transportation system to, and often beyond, the limit. Most of the newcomers have chosen the car over the bus as a way to get around, adding to traffic congestion. Despite the growth in the population, bus ridership declined during most of the 1980s and 1990s. An upswing in ridership in the past three years has brought it back to almost exactly where it was in 1984, says OC Transpo. The new City of Ottawa is now urgently grappling with how to solve, or at least alleviate, its transportation problems. Mayor Bob Chiarelli hopes the city will have a commuter rail network and a new east-west road link within five years.

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

www.transport2000.ca.