Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

22 May 2009

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 1021, for 22 May 2009.

In this issue...

1 - Calendar

2 - Charlottetown transit up 65%: P.E.I. Public Transit Coalition

Charlottetown Councillor Stu MacFadyen told CBC News: "22,467 riders used the city's bus system last month, about 9,000 more than in March of last year. ... MacFadyen credited a number of factors for the new monthly ridership record, including more people realizing the convenience of taking the bus, people wanting to do their part to help the environment, and the new bus pass included in student fees at UPEI," CBC News reported on May 15.

Transport 2000's Jim Munves and other members of the P.E.I. Public Transit Coalition were the driving force which led to establishing a transit system in Charlottetown on Sept. 25, 2005.

http://www.cresthalifax.org/archives/charlottetown-transit-sees-65-jump-in-ridership

3 - Main parties should start talking transit: Halifax LRT

"Improving public transit in Nova Scotia isn't getting a lot of attention during the provincial election campaign," Roger Taylor wrote in the Chronicle Herald. "The province could start by investing in a light rail connection that would use the existing track that runs from Fall River and beyond to deliver commuters right into south end Halifax.

"The staff at The Chronicle Herald know just how underused the city's lone rail line is. That's because from our new perch on Joseph Howe Drive we see a single VIA train coming and going each day. The same goes for the freight train that runs each way," the Chronicle Herald columnist wrote on May 16.

http://www.cresthalifax.org/archives/main-parties-should-start-talking-transit

4 - New high-speed Canadian trains touted to match U.S. vision: High Speed Rail Canada

"A multibillion-dollar Canadian high-speed rail project could inject new life into the domestic steel industry and allow the country to keep pace with a "visionary" plan launched last month by U.S. President Barack Obama, railway industry and public transit advocates said on Tuesday," Canwest News Service reported on May 19.

"Obviously, President Obama has made it a priority and so we're certainly at risk of losing ground to them if we don't take a good hard look ourselves and make some decisions over the next few years," Cliff Mackay, president and chief executive officer of the Railway Association of Canada, said in an interview.

"Clearly, what we need is vision beyond the next six months and that's what's missing in Canada," said Paul Langan, the founder of the advocacy group High Speed Rail Canada. "This vision has never been seen before in North America . . . These people (in the U.S.) are behind rail," Canwest's Mike De Souza reported.

http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=1610102

5 - A $270-million agreement to improve Calgary Transit

"A $270-million agreement between the three levels of government will see nine city transit projects - including the creation of four-car platforms and a station on the new west leg of the LRT - move ahead. The federal and provincial governments - along with the city - will kick in $90 million each over the next two years," the Calgary Herald reported on May 19.

The Herald reports: "On the list of projects that will be funded are:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/270M+Calgary+transit+projects/1609215/story.html

6 - New fleet for Sault Agawa Canyon Tour Train: Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains

Canadian National and the non-profit Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation announced on May 15 a fleet acquisition for the Agawa Canyon Tour Train. CN and the Ontario government's Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. are jointly funding the $10 million fleet renewal.

CN has acquired the Ski Train consisting of three locomotives and 14 passenger cars that operated between Denver, Colorado and the nearby Winter Park ski resort from 1988 until March of this year, discontinued for a variety of reasons by its private owner Ansco Investment Co. CN will add two of its dome cars to the train. While the new train will be put into service this June, the refurbishment will take place over the next 12 months.

Ridership has been falling on the tour train in recent years. The rejuvenated tour train is hoped to draw back tourism to the region, the train estimated to provide the Sault Ste. Marie area with $30 million in economic activity. In season, the daily trip from the Sault to Agawa Canyon is 182km. The citizens group Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains has been supporting a revival of a network.

http://www.captrains.ca/

7 - 40 metre trucks will have costs: Slow stats make measurement impossible

"The power of the trucking industry never ceases to amaze me. Of course I am not privy to discussions between the two, but it looks like the trucking lobby's Rasputin-like hold on the province has tightened again. Its latest initiative is to bamboozle the province into accepting a one-year trial of Long Combination Vehicles (LCVs ) on Ontario's roads. Already large and often unstable trucks will grow from an overall length of 25 meters to 40 meters. These road trains will haul two trailers of 16 meters each," Natalie Litwin, president of Transport 2000 Ontario reports.

"If we other users were afraid of sharing the roads with large trucks, these monsters should make us very afraid.

"While truck collision statistics appear to be stable, the most recent published data is for 2005! ... real costs to tax payers are likely to go up as we pay for the added policing to keep these larger trucks out of trouble. Although the Ministry claims that road damage and related costs will not increase, there has to be an added cost as current turning/access lanes will have to be rebuilt to accommodate these unmanouverable monsters," Litwin wrote in March-April 2009 edition of the Transport 2000 Ontario newsletter.

8 - Ottawa blocking steps to improve passenger-rail service in Vancouver

"Now that the Gordon Campbell government is back on track, it must do all it can to protect B.C. jobs by helping one of our region's main employers, our flagging tourism industry. A great way to do this would be for three-peat Campbell himself to jump on U.S. President Barack Obama's eco-friendly bandwagon and boost fast, frequent rail service between Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Ore., . . . and possibly San Francisco and Los Angeles," Jon Ferry wrote in his May 15 column in the Province.

"Ottawa, though, has been blocking steps to improve even our current low-speed, passenger-rail service. ... For some months now, Amtrak has been gearing up to double the number of trains. But the Canada Border Services Agency has wanted to charge the U.S. national rail operator for passengers on the extra trains to cover the costs of doing customs checks "outside of its core hours of service.

"One of the main champions of improving cross-border rail service over the years has been Bruce Agnew, director of the Cascadia Centre, a Seattle-based think-tank. ... Agnew points to a Washington state Department of Transportation study showing that Amtrak passengers currently spend nearly $16 million Cdn a year in the Vancouver area. With a second train on the Vancouver-Seattle run, that could soar to as much as $49 million. Then, once there are two daily trains, we could think about four trains . . . and even high-speed trains," the Province columnist wrote.

http://www.theprovince.com/Travel/Tourism+leaders+steaming+over+train+holdup/1598735/story.html

9 - Sheppard East construction in July: TTC Streetcar bid June 27: Steve Munro

"Today (May 15) at a joint press conference at TTC Hillcrest Yards, Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty announced funding for the Sheppard East line with construction to start in July (Harper) or in the fall (McGuinty). Included in the announcement was a statement that the route would be served by Bombardier vehicles, and this more or less settles the question about any add-on contract to the "legacy" streetcar order," Steve Munro reported.

"A reporter from Radio Canada (the French network) asked about funding for the new streetcar fleet, and this question was later repeated by a reporter from CBC Radio. Harper emphasized in both French and English that the primary concern of the Canadian government today was with short term economic stimulus. In his English answer, Harper said that there would be plenty of time for discussions about the new streetcars.

"McGuinty speaking in French said that he was optimistic about assisting Toronto in the purchase of new streetcars, and his tone was much more conciliatory than previous emanations from Queen's Park. By contrast, to the repeat question in English, he first asked whether the reporter was "working for Miller", and then complained that Toronto just had one announcement out the door. He settled down to talk briefly about Toronto and Queen's Park meeting to discuss priorities overall, but seemed testier in the English response.

"All in all, I think the funding for streetcars will come, and there is the June 27 deadline for bid validity," Munro reported on May 15.

http://stevemunro.ca/?p=2169#more-2169

10 - Clean Air Day, June 3: Kings Transit

Transport 2000's John Pearce today reported: "Clean Air Day, June 3, will be celebrated on Nova Scotia's award winning Kings Transit by offering free rides on the 160 km system through the Annapolis Valley. Sponsored by Conserve N.S., the Ecology Action Centre, and Kings Transit, the event will also permit the carriage of 2 bicycles per trip. Publicity underway is designed to add new riders to the list of regulars to accelerate growth of the system. Public transit is beginning to become an issue in the Nova Scotia provincial election being held on June 9."

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www.transport2000.ca.