Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

1 June 2002

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 655 and 656, recorded on 1 June 2002, David Leibold reporting.

In this issue...

A Hotline was regrettably unavailable last week due to various circumstances.

1 - National Transportation Week

Canada's National Transportation Week is once again under way until 8th June.

2 - BC transit ridership grows

BC Transit ridership outside Vancouver and Victoria jumped by 8% in the 2001/2002 fiscal year over the previous year. The service itself increased by 3%. The Cowichan Valley system ridership alone jumped by 23%, while bus service in Terrace had 20% more ridership, and Whistler increased by 13%. Reference: http://www.busonline.ca/corporate/general_info/media_resources/.

3 - Community seeks new GO Train route

Peel Region, west of Toronto, wants a new GO Train route on CP's Mactier subdivision, to serve commuters in Caledon and Bolton. GO Transit is not planning for this rail route in the foreseeable future, but Caledon proceeded to update its official plan for a future train station site. In the meantime, commuters continue to have GO bus service available in the area.

4 - GO Transit strike

130 maintenance workers for Toronto area commuter service GO Transit are on strike as of 30th May. There are delays and cancellations to GO services, although the drivers themselves are not involved in strike action. The maintenance workers belong to Bombardier, which has a service contract with GO until 2006.

5 - Heavy-Metro subway for Dublin, Ireland

Approval was recently given for Dublin, Ireland's first heavy-metro subway system. The £7.2 billion project would be the biggest infrastructure project in Ireland's history. The first line will be from the airport to the city centre. Service is expected to commence by 2007, but busrage.com is very skeptical that the line will actually open that year.

6 - Air safety report released

IATA's Safety Report for 2001 was recently released. Operational loss rates of western-built jets effectively remains steady at 1 loss per million sectors flown. In terms of flying hours, there was a statistically insignificant drop from 0.59 to 0.54 losses per million flying hours between 2000 and 2001.

There was a 21% increase in the number of approach and landing accidents for western-built jets in 2001 compared to 2000. Much of this involved planes landing short of runway, especially affecting cargo flights.

The report does not count non-accident events such as the terrorist acts in the U.S. last September.

7 - Terrorism blamed for world air losses

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced in late May that there was an operating loss of 3.6% for worldwide scheduled airline in 2001, compared to the 3.3% operating profit in 2000. September's terrorist events, and a general economic slowdown in late 2001 were blamed.

8 - Rebuilding air service in Afghanistan

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced at the end of May an agreement with Afghanistan to rebuild the Kabul airport and the national air traffic control facilities. Currently, some civilian service at Kabul airport is being provided through the United Nations and Afghanistan national airline Ariana.

Afghanistan air space was closed from September 2001 until 15 February 2002. This resulted in additional trip times for many flights in the region.

ICAO has engaged in a $37 million overall plan to rehabilitate Afghanistan's civil aviation system. The country's new authorities hope to restore normal conditions for air service as quickly as possible.

9 - Not-so-great moments in transit

The Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Company, or BEST, featured an article on the "All Standees Bus" which was introduced in 1967. Except for a very few seats, passengers generally had to stand for their trip. This was intended for "short" routes, but the bus company was forced by unpopular demand to take these buses out of service by 1970.

Yet, the trend in Canadian transit is towards reducing seating on vehicles, despite higher ridership. Is history condemned to repeat itself?

http://www.bestundertaking.com/.

10 - Road runner killed by bus

A trespasser who attempted to cross Ottawa's 417 superhighway on foot was killed 28th May when struck by a transit bus. The bus was carrying no passengers and was heading back to the St Laurent garage.

11 - Railway group seeks closer co-operation with municipalities

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Railway Association of Canada (RAC) agreed to take a "good neighbour" approach to disputes involving municipalities and railways. RAC stressed the economic necessity and environmental benefits of rail transportation.

12 - Canadians want improved truck safety measures

70% of Canadians in a recent survey believe that tired truckers represent a serious safety problem. The survey also showed same level of public concern that trucks were not being maintained in safe operating condition. Two-fifths of Canadians also view the number of trucks on the roads as a hazard in itself.

Most Canadians also support improved safety measures for truck drivers - a zero alcohol limit, more frequent mechanical inspections, driver testing every five years and random drug/alcohol tests. However, most of those surveyed also consider truck drivers to be skilled professionals in general.

The findings were released in late May as part of the Road Safety Monitor produced by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF).

13 - Calendar

3-7 June 2002 - Commuter Challenge week, where Canadian cities compete for reporting usage of the most environmentally friendly modes of commuting. See the website: http://www.commuterchallenge.net.

4 June 2002: Ottawa - Light Rail Rally: 12 noon - 2 pm at Ottawa City Hall; Public Meeting in support of light rail and the Alta Vista Corridor for trains: 7pm at St Paul University.

5 June 2002 - Clean Air Day. In the National Capital Region, there will be a 2-for-1 transit special this day, where a fare-paying passenger can bring another person on the trip for free. Details: http://www.octranspo.com (Ottawa), http://www.sto.ca (Gatineau).

8-12 June 2002: CUTA conference in Ottawa. http://www.cutaactu.ca.

15 June 2002: Toronto, Transport 2000 Ontario Board meeting.

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

www.transport2000.ca.