By Pepper Parr
December 8th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
City manager James Ridge is now on the lookout for someone to lead the Transit system
Former Director of the Transit service Mike Spencer decided to follow his former boss, Scott Stewart, who left Burlington to become the Deputy CAO in Guelph and then began poaching staff.
The Gazette interviewed two strong transit advocates in Burlington and asked what they thought the city manager should be looking for in the way of a new Director for the transit service.
“Well he wants and needs someone who is a transit champion and who has deep transit experience” said Doug Brown.
Jim Young, who advocated so effectively before city council recently on their need to listen to the people who put them in office, wants to see a transit service that understands the needs of the people in the city and a service that will try new ideas.
Brown was asked if there was anyone currently working at transit that could rise to the position of Director. “There are a couple, but no one is going to take that job until city council decides that it is going to fund transit properly”. Brown added that no one with municipal transit experience in the province is going to apply for the job in Burlington because this city council is not going to provide the dollars needed to provide a service that can meet the need.
Both Brown and Young are not at all sure than city council actually understands transit. “We had a member of this council casually lop off $2 million from the transit budget and use it to “shave and pace” roads.
Brown points out that there is no clear direction for transit – “where does it fit in” he asks. Then adds that there is no economic analysis on what our transit spending is doing – all Councillor Taylor can do is see the costs.
Brown points to the $10 million budgeted for road widening – take those things out of the budget he suggests.
Brown almost winces when he explains that the federal gas tax money the city gets is poorly distributed. 30% of that money used to go to transit – this city council cut that back to 20%. That loss shows said Brown.
Young tried to convince the city to make transit free for seniors one day a week – they didn’t buy that idea saying there wasn’t enough data to show that such an idea would make a difference. This despite the fact that data from Oakville made it very clear that free transit will get people to use the bus service.
The relatively small group of people in Burlington who advocate for better transit have a lot of work to do getting people to understand that transit is a must – there is no need or economic justification for the spending we are doing on roads.
But if you follow the discussion on the “road diet” pilot project on New Street it is clear that people in Burlington don’t want space given to bicycle riders – the car is still the king of the road in this city – and as long as that is the culture this city is not going to attract the transit leader it needs.
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The Gazette interviewed two strong transit advocates in Burlington and asked what they thought the city manager should be looking for in the way of a new Director for the transit service.
Doug Brown and Susan Lewis look over a 1982 copy of the city’s bus schedule.
“Well he wants and needs someone who is a transit champion and who has deep transit experience” said Doug Brown.
Jim Young, who advocated so effectively before city council recently on their need to listen to the people who put them in office, wants to see a transit service that understands the needs of the people in the city and a service that will try new ideas.
Brown was asked if there was anyone currently working at transit that could rise to the position of Director.
“There are a couple, but no one is going to take that job until city council decides that it is going to fund transit properly”. Brown added that no one with municipal transit experience in the province is going to apply for the job in Burlington because this city council is not going to provide the dollars needed to provide a service that can meet the need.
Both Brown and Young are not at all sure than city council actually understands transit. “We had a member of this council casually lop off $2 million from the transit budget and use it to “shave and pace” roads.
Councillor John Taylor seems to have trouble really understanding why better transit is necessary suggests advocate Doug Brown.
Brown points out that there is no clear direction for transit – “where does it fit in” he asks. Then adds that there is no economic analysis on what our transit spending is doing – all Councillor Taylor can do is see the costs.
Brown points to the $10 million budgeted for road widening – take those things out of the budget he suggests.
Brown almost winces when he explains that the federal gas tax money the city gets is poorly distributed. 30% of that money used to go to transit – this city council cut that back to 20%. That loss shows said Brown.
Transit advocate Jim Young
Young tried to convince the city to make transit free for seniors one day a week – they didn’t buy that idea saying there wasn’t enough data to show that such an idea would make a difference. This despite the fact that data from Oakville made it very clear that free transit will get people to use the bus service.
The relatively small group of people in Burlington who advocate for better transit have a lot of work to do getting people to understand that transit is a must – there is no need or economic justification for the spending we are doing on roads.
But if you follow the discussion on the “road diet” pilot project on New Street it is clear that people in Burlington don’t want space given to bicycle riders – the car is still the king of the road in this city – and as long as that is the culture this city is not going to attract the transit leader it needs.
Background links:
Young on letting seniors use transit free
When a city provides good transit to its residents, it brings new customers to its marketplace. If seniors, students, the disabled and the car-less were able to rely on transit, they could more easily get to places where they currently cannot — stores, restaurants, libraries and other places.
Burlington council has an elitist (and ignorant) attitude — thinking that only “the poor and undesirable” ride buses. This is to the detriment of Burlington residents. A reliable transit system would help ease road congestion as well as helping the downtown parking problem.
I took Burlington Transit for nearly 20 years commuting to the Appleby GO Station and back. There’s only one adjective that aptly describes the service: pitiful! The service was invariably late, patrons often ended waiting interminably for buses, and the GO train schedules and the bus routes were never synchronized.
If you want to know how to run a transit system just look at Oakville. Buses pulling into the Oakville and Bronte GO Station are full of patrons. I drive along Upper Middle Road in Oakville on several weekday mornings and there are always people waiting for rides. Why? Well, the routes are logical, the service is great, and the people running it actually know what they’re doing. Twice while commuting home from Toronto the GO trains were stopped at Oakville Main Station and patrons had to disembark. Oakville Transit’s response was amazing. Not only were they able to get patrons home but they let everyone ride for free.
If the service were more reliable, and the routes more logical, more people would ride it. In addition, it’s high time to resurrect Carol D’Amelio’s idea from the 2010 Mayoralty race to allow certain patrons (i.e. seniors, high school students, the disabled, those on social assistance) free passes. Hell, we can drop $216,000 on a useless road diet on New Street, and $14 million on an ugly pier, maybe it’s time we spent some money on something that actually helps those in need.
It’s not that we don’t want space given to bicycle riders, it’s that City Hall is spending significant amounts of money to create that space at the direct expense of vehicular traffic, in a city where vehicular traffic is already bad enough as it is, all for the benefit of less than half a percent of the overall population.
Lane restrictions + No improvements to transit = Many angry Burlington residents with no good options to get around the city.
The lack of transit funding/improvements is a major problem for a city that wants to get people out of their cars. If you’re going to create the problem, you better be working on the solution!!
Forget about the activists, and just hire a proper manager who will run transit within its budget.