ONR and road safety facts, Bikeway principles

A new bridge will help help Kamploopsians get together.

Kamloops reconnects, Road safety? Ontario Northland subsidy 23 cents more per passenger than GO Train, Costs of going underground. Inter-city bus service returns to NB and PEI and more in today Transport Action Hotline.

 

Transport Action Atlantic, Bus service and seniors housing among top issues in St. Andrews

"Voters in Charlotte County's shiretown say bus services, housing for seniors and employment for young people are issues that need to be addressed. "They (councillors) don't think of people who don't have wheels," resident Mike Perry said. "They can't conceive of it. They should." Charlotte County needs something better than bus connections three days a week, said Perry, a member of Transport Action Atlantic," Derwin Gowan wrote for the Telegraph-Journal on May 12.

"Charlotte County communities should subsidize a daily local bus that would allow people without cars to attend events at the civic centre under construction in St. Stephen, meet the Grand Manan Ferry at Blacks Harbour or commute to work in Saint John, he suggested. Many young people cannot afford to drive, while seniors avoid driving on the highway, he said, adding that seniors' housing is another major issue," the Telegraph-Journal reported.

Chris Holloway s’occupera du dossier du train à vapeur, Transport Action

Ottawa symposium on drinking and driving on May 17

Dr. Brian Jonah will
report on the national
plan to reduce
the number of
drunk drivers on
Canadian roads.

J. Goss + Associates will be covering the Centre for Responsible Drinking Symposium. The Centre reports: "There have been many improvements to strengthen the drunk driver system in the past ten years, and new strategies, supported by research, have informed the development of effective policies and practices."

The Centre reports: "Increased coalescence around the need for a comprehensive approach that includes prevention, sanctioning and rehabilitation has emerged across disciplines to create a growing trend in the drunk driver system. As such, this is an important opportunity to take stock of what has been learned from experiences nationally and to leverage the progress that has been achieved to inform our current approach to this problem, and to identify future priorities."

Objectives of the Symposium

Highlight the range of strategies used in Canada to manage drunk driving.
Explore lessons learned from the implementation of a wide range of interventions.
Share experiences drawn from private, public and community approaches to increase awareness of the risks and change driver behaviours.
To identify important priorities moving forward.

Agenda

Canada Road Safety Week, We can do better

A serious effort dedicated to bringing down the
the commercial vehicle kill rate woud help make
our roads less dangerous. 

Canada Road Safety Week runs from May 14 to May 21. Every year the police mark the occasion with increased enforcement, press releases and amusing stories like the one about the driver going 140 km/h while tossing a salad.

The federal government's main contribution is to talk about Canada's plan to make our roads the safest in the world and release its most recent statistics to make the  case.

There is value in road safety week but it masks serious problems. The facts suggest road safety is not a priority for Canadian governments.

Consider the government's Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics. This week, if we are lucky, the feds will release stats for 2010. Why not 2011? Why not real-time?

This "data lag" does a major disservice to those interested in a serious road safety effort. How do we analyze the effect of new safety measures? How can we interest the public when all we have are old numbers. Key elements are missing like the amount of driving done in a year. There is nothing about the 19% of collisions involving big trucks. There are no comparisons to other countries.

Airport links in Montreal, Halifax, Edmonton et Ottawa

Transport Action members mourn the
passing of Keith Knox,
Past President of Transport 2000 Saskatchewan.
(Leader-Post photo) 

Reports on transit funding in Toronto and Montreal. New regulations on bus service in Manitoba. M. Dubé propose une uniformisation de la taxe sur les immatriculations à un niveau de 75 $ par an et plus in this week's Transport Action Hotline.

Hearings explore funding for Montreal-area transit, Transport 2000 

"The Montreal Metropolitan Community, the regional planning body that covers 82 municipalities and 3.7 million residents, calculates $22.9 billion in major transit projects are in the works, but funding is not in place for many of them," the Montreal Gazette reported on May 8. 

"Transport 2000 (is) a transit users’ lobby group. It favours a system similar to that of France, where companies pay a levy to fund transit based on the size of their payrolls. The Conseil régional de l’environnement de Montréal, a coalition of environmental groups. It wants 30 per cent of Quebec’s transport-infrastructure fund to go to transit, up from 18 per cent. At the moment, 82 per cent goes to roadways," Andy Riga wrote for the Montreal Gazette. 

Transport Action, Le train léger et l'Aéroport d'Ottawa 

Consumer protection for wireless customers

Public Interest Advocacy Centre News 

- Airline and bank consumers stiffed

- Cellphone rates in Canada 

- Bell stung by $1.00 payphone backlash

- Fees, services, advertising and on-time performance

- Bell veut augmenter ses tarifs

- 電話亭打電話 貝爾申請漲價一倍

PIAC supports national wireless consumer code 

In a May 4 CRTC submission the Public Interest Advocacy Centre supported a call for a national code to protect wireless consumers. PIAC wants a code that at least meets the provincial consumer protection standards now in place or before legislatures.

Consumer transactions, 60 per cent of Ontario's economy

PIAC's Michael Janigan told the Windsor Star Ontario consumers have substantial legal protection but often lack information and resources to exercise their rights. What's missing is adequate funding to enforce the rules and make consumers more aware. Janigan said: "You can't have a province where you have 60 per cent of the economy based on consumer transactions and have a department with a $45-million budget that deals with consumer services." Ellen Van Wageningen wrote for the Windsor Star on Apr. 23. http://is.gd/yOFpS6

Avoiding smartphone 'bill shock', You can't give all of the responsibility to the consumer 

Via Rail blue sky vision, abandoned railway lines

Transport Action Canada is
concerned about the future
of passenger rail services
in Canada. 

PEI government kills co-op bus service, Ideas to improve the Canadian, Via Rail annoncera bientôt les réductions de service, Moncton Transit hub and more news in this week's Transport Action Canada Hotline.

What is a blue sky vision?

Transport Action Canada is concerned about the future of Via Rail. As reported in the Hotline last week the national group is looking for funds, ideas and volunteers to work on a blue sky vision for Via Rail. http://is.gd/FRYlo6

"Blue Sky is a very old term that has been around for many, many, many years. Blue Sky plans or visions are great to have. They give you an idea of what you would like given the opportunity. It is also important to prioritize these plans or visions. For example a Blue Sky plan for VIA might include restoring the Atlantic, the Canadian to the CP line and service between Calgary and Edmonton. Of these you might place Calgary - Edmonton as the priority," a post to the 1250-member Canadian Passenger Rail Yahoo Group said. http://is.gd/DPJLuW

John Pearce, The problem with VIA Rail service is where it's not

Canada's top amateur pilot 2012

J. Goss + Associates is a
proud supporter of the
Webster Memorial Trophy
Competition.
(Aerographics poster)

J. Goss + Associates is a proud supporter of the Webster Memorial Trophy Competition.

This year the national competition turns eighty. The contest for bragging rights as Canada's top amateur pilot will be held at the Rockcliffe Flying Club in Ottawa on Aug. 15-18, 2012.

The competition is fast becoming an important Canadian event. Over the last few years the field of young pilots has grown from an average of 30-35 to 103 in 2011.

The number of flight schools involved has gone up from ten to about thirty. Aviation community support is up from eight to over thirty and includes CAE, Bombardier and WestJet.  The Webster Memorial Trophy Competition is sponsored by Air Canada.

The deadline for filing an application to compete is June 1.

The application form is at:

Finance Minister will let banks choose the judge

The federal Finance Minister had to
choose between consumers or the banks.
The Minister chose the banks.

Financial Consumers Betrayed by Finance Minister's OBSI Decision

OTTAWA - The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) today condemned the Minister of Finance's assertion made yesterday that the federal government will not require Canada's banks to resolve banking customers' disputes with the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI). Instead the Minister has stated the government will publish rules allowing multiple consumer banking arbitration services - effectively allowing Canadian banks - to choose their own judge.

"The Minister knows regulations can't fix this.  He had to pick between consumers and banks.  He chose the banks," stated John Lawford, counsel for PIAC.