jillumbach Advocacy, Media

Bus operators need to be encouraged to come here

By Denis Langlois, Sun Times, Owen Sound

Saturday, October 5, 2013 4:58:09 EDT PM

The closure of Owen Sound’s bus terminal and Greyhound’s decision to cut its routes to the city has put a spotlight on transportation issues in our area.

Specifically, it has highlighted the importance of intercity bus service to rural communities.

Students attending school in Toronto, London, Barrie and elsewhere, for example, rely on the bus to get to and from their rural Ontario homes.

People use the bus to get to hospitals in major Ontario cities, to visit family in southern Ontario and to access services not found locally. Some people just want to hop aboard a bus to spend time in Toronto.

Despite the need for bus transportation, options for people in rural Ontario, including Grey-Bruce, continue to decline.

Greyhound now only makes one trip daily into and out of Owen Sound. The bus takes people to Toronto via Collingwood and Barrie. Aboutown Northlink only makes a trip between Owen Sound and London three times a week.

People wanting to get to Orangeville, KitchenerWaterloo, Guelph, Hamilton or other cities must transfer to another bus in Toronto or London. It can be a long trip.

The provincial government should step up and do something about this transportation shortage. More should be done to encourage bus companies to make the trek to and from Owen Sound.

Part of the problem, it seems, is Ontario’s current regulatory framework for intercity bus transportation.

Companies must apply to the Ontario Highway Transport Board to receive a permit before it can operate a new route.

John Emberson, president of Coach Canada, said the process is time consuming and expensive. The applicant must provide a business plan, among other things, to the board.

Other companies can object to the permit request, he said, and the board will often side with the firm that currently offers the same or a similar route.

The process limits competition, he said, and can allow some companies to hold a monopoly on certain routes.

Coach Canada, which owns more than 200 buses, is among the companies lobbying the province to deregulate the system.

Alberta and Manitoba have done it. Alberta implemented a new modernized framework in 2011. Companies there now have the option of running a smaller bus for certain routes or creating a flexible schedule without, as happened in the past, having their application objected to by existing carriers, which would have triggered a full-blown hearing.

It’s time for Ontario to take a serious look at doing the same.

There are also calls from outside of the industry for the province to make changes to improve Ontario’s regional transportation network.

Owen Sound Mayor Deb Haswell, for one, has called on the province to explore ways to encourage more buses to run routes to the city.

The Southwest Economic Alliance (SWEA), meanwhile, is calling on both the provincial and federal governments “to work together to plan and adequately fund a regional transportation network.”

A summit, with politicians, transportation companies and advocacy groups, is scheduled for Nov. 14.

“The objective is to generate cooperation, planning and policy development which will lead to more transportation in southwestern Ontario,” SWEA says.

It is our hope that SWEA will have luck with its campaign.

However, it’s important that Owen Sound also benefit from any improved regional transportation system.

Without changes, the city could become even more isolated from the rest of southern Ontario.

jillumbach Advocacy, Media

Rural Residents Need More

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force wants gas tax to help fund rural transportation.

MP3 - click to open click to open MP3 version
or click the play button to listen now.
(Grey Bruce )-The Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force is calling on the Ontario government to put more resources into rural communities.

In its updated Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy, the province is reviewing that strategy and the Poverty Task Force wants to ensure that they receive feedback and ideas from people in Bruce and Grey counties.

United Way of Bruce Grey Executive Director, Francesca Dobbyn says they heard similar messages from across the community.

Issues such as transportation, jobs, health services; and safe, affordable housing were among the issues brought up in the survey.

Families who responded to the survey indicated they had benefited from the government’s Child Benefit Taxes, Student Nutrition Program, and full-day kindergarten.

However, families with dependents over 18 and middle-aged people, seniors or those almost at retirement age are not eligible for these benefits.

The Poverty Task Force asked area MPP’s for comments on the submission, and both Bruce Grey Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker and Huron Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson contributed to the report.

Thompson says the Task force report is a testament to the years of neglect by the Liberal government.

She promises to continue to push for rural Ontario’s fair share through lower energy bills, and a fair share of the gas tax for rural residents so we can invest in transportation.

MPP Walker says the gas tax is the most persistent anti-rural policy of the last decade.

He says they want immediate action from the government to allocate a fair portion of the gas tax to all rural communities so we can meet our transportation and infrastructure needs.

The task force report is being sent off to Queens Park.

jillumbach Advocacy

Owen Sound police board to ponder taxi fare hike

By Denis Langlois, Sun Times, Owen Sound

Thursday, October 3, 2013 10:19:01 EDT AM

The chairman of Owen Sound’s police service board says there is still time for people to comment on a proposal to hike the cost of taxi fares in the city.

Gary Levine says the board has heard from taxi operators who are asking that the bylaw that regulates fares be changed so that all companies must charge a flat rate of $9 per trip, taxes included, within city limits.

The bylaw now allows taxi companies to charge a maximum of $8 per ride. Some operators charge $6.

Levine said the board has not yet received comments from the public, something he said he welcomes.

“The more people that provide feedback the better so that we’re not making the decision in isolation,” he said in an interview.

Without public comments, a motion to increase fares to $9 could be made at the next Owen Sound Police Service board meeting on Oct. 23, he said.

Francesca Dobbyn, executive director of the United Way of Bruce Grey, said she is concerned about increases in taxi fares, especially since the “most marginalized” people typically rely on them the most.

“For a lot of people, it’s just more of a burden on people who simply don’t have the money in their budgets to adjust to that burden,” she said.

The proposed increase also comes at a time when the city plans to increase bus fares by 10% in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and reduce routes from four to three, she said.

“Those issues should not be dealt with in isolation,” she said.

Rob Taylor, owner of Redline Taxi in Owen Sound, said he would like to see all cab operators charging the same price.

“We have to have a little bit of an increase to keep up with gas prices, insurance, maintenance, and to make sure that our drivers get a fair share as well,” he said.

Taxi fare prices are set by the Owen Sound Police Service board. The bylaw has set a maximum fare of $8 since at least 2002.

Levine said people wanting to provide feedback on the proposed fare increase should do so by Oct. 23.

They can do so by e-mailing Levine at glevine@docpc.com or the board’s administrative assistant Kelly Jo Calver at kcalver@owensoundpolice.com.

jillumbach Media, Upcoming Events

Salvation Army set to launch food drive

By Rob Gowan, Sun Times, Owen Sound

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 3:07:53 EDT PM

1297474437887_ORIGINAL

Consistently high demand has the Owen Sound Salvation Army Food Bank hoping for a strong Thanksgiving Food Drive.

“We are certainly at the lowest point we have ever seen our food shelves at,” said Alice Wannan, the Owen Sound Salvation Army’s community and family services co-ordinator. “Primarily that is because numbers did not drop during the summer. Normally we see a decline in the number of families that use the food bank during the summer and we did not experience that at all.”

The Salvation Army branch is kicking off its 27th annual Thanksgiving Food Drive on Friday. The drive runs until Oct. 14, when organizers hope to collect about 28,000 pounds of food.

Wannan said the shelves were virtually bare prior to this past Saturday when a stuff the ambulance event was held at Zehrs where about 1,500 pounds of food and over $400 in cash donations was collected.

In Owen Sound in the month of August, the Salvation Army assisted 667 individuals with food , of which 168 were under the age of 18, which works out to almost $38,000 worth of food given to families during the month.

“It’s a staggering number when you think of that,” said Wannan. “As a Salvation Army we would not be able to do that without the community support.”

Wannan said the need is slightly higher than last year, but it is the consistency of the need that is depleting the Salvation Army’s supplies.

“Normally we have different times of the year where it seems to let up and we have a bit of a lull in the numbers where it kind of lets us build up our food supplies,” said Wannan. “We just have not seen that. Numbers consistently seem to be from 650 to where we have had up to 745 individuals in a month.”

Wannan attributes the need to the higher cost of living people are experiencing.

“The rents. the heats and hydros, the cost of kids going to school, are what we are consistently hearing from families are impacting their abilities to put money away for food,” said Wannan.

The organization depends on the Thanksgiving Food Drive to get its shelved stocked for the busy holiday season and carries the food bank through most of the year.

“The Thanksgiving Food Drive is the only food drive the Salvation Army runs throughout the year,” said Wannan.

This year marks the first year where the Salvation Army will not be distributing paper bags through the newspaper. This year the organization has opted to make people aware of the food drive drive through a pamphlet that will be included in the weekly store flyer package.

“We wanted to make that transition to be a little more environmentally friendly,” said Wannan. “We have been sending out approximately 13,000 bags every year. We get a good number of those back, but we certainly understand there are a lot that aren’t coming back and are probably going to the landfill site.”

Wannan said the pamphlets are also more cost effective and they can be kept and posted on peoples’ fridge as a reminder. The pamphlet includes details about where food can be dropped off and the items most needed, including peanut butter, Kraft Dinner, juice, canned beans and pasta and soup. The pamphlets are also being distributed by local churches and schools.

“By the beginning of our Thanksgiving campaign we hope to have about 20,000 of them out,” said Wannan. “We are hoping to get the word out to more people in the community, we just won’t be using the paper bags.”

People can drop off food at local grocery stores, businesses and churches during the duration of the food drive. On Oct. 10 and 11 there will be a Thrifty truck in the Zehrs parking lot where food can be dropped off. The truck will be in the Bayshore Broadcasting parking lot on Oct. 12.