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Rally Monday in support of transit terminal

By Denis Langlois, Sun Times, Owen Sound

Friday, September 27, 2013 1:06:13 EDT PM

Just hours before Owen Sound’s bus terminal is to be closed for good, people plan to gather outside of the building to call on city council to keep it open.

The United Way of Bruce Grey decided to organize a “Don’t Kill the Terminal” rally, for Monday at 1 p.m., after being asked by many individuals and community organizations “to do something” about the impending closure, said executive director Francesca Dobbyn.

“We want to draw attention to this. We don’t want the quiet silence in the community to be misunderstood as acceptance or an endorsement of what city council has decided to do with the terminal,” she said in an interview.

The city is planning to permanently close the depot at 6:30 p.m. Monday. Council made the decision as a way to reduce the cost of the transit system.

Even though the building will be closed, the terminal property will still be used as a transfer point and bus stop until the city transitions from a four-route to a new three-route system, which is expected to happen this spring.

Coun. Peter Lemon served notice at a council meeting Sept. 23 that he will seek to bring back for discussion a staff report, which outlines the cost to keep the terminal building open for another six months, in hopes that council will reconsider its decision to simply “note and file” the document.

Dobbyn said the United Way, which does advocacy work in the community, has many concerns about terminal’s closure.

Riders, including “our most vulnerable consumers,” use the building for its washroom facilities, to seek shelter from the cold and rain and to receive assistance and information about the transit system, she said.

“The proposed concept of local small business owners providing tickets and information is well meaning, but few stores will be open early enough for those using the system in the morning, to provide shelter,” she said in a news release.

Bus drivers also rely on the terminal for its washrooms. It’s also a place for drivers to gather in the event of an emergency, she said.

Dobbyn said she would like the city to keep the terminal open at least over winter to provide time for a “community conversation” about what to do after it closes.

“We feel there is an out-of-the-box solution that can be realized through community engagement and consultation. The city will still have to heat, clean, plow and maintain the property, so the operating costs are not significant in savings,” she said.

A report by operations director Brad McRoberts said it would cost about $57,600 over the six-month “transition period” from a four-route to a three-route system to have the terminal open and a staff person stationed there during regular transit operating hours. Costs to clean the building and its washrooms each day as well as for utilities and a telephone line would also be covered.

The cost to keep the terminal open, without staffing the building, would be about $27,000 for six months. The Owen Sound Police Service strongly cautioned the city to not leave the building “unstaffed,” noting past “issues with illegal activity” there, McRoberts’ report said. City staff did not recommend that option.

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City to move to three-route bus system

By Denis Langlois, Sun Times, Owen Sound

Monday, August 26, 2013 11:30:52 EDT PM

City council narrowly approved Monday night reducing the number of 30-minute routes serviced by its public transit system from four to three, despite fierce opposition from some councillors.

“I really think we’re making a mistake, a tragic mistake,” Coun. Peter Lemon said during the meeting.

He urged his council colleagues to maintain a four-route system and to call another public meeting to hear from transit users.

Councillors who supported moving to a three-route system disagreed with Lemon’s position that there is a “humungous” difference between the two models.

“I believe sincerely that a three-route system without a terminal will provide virtually the same service on virtually the same timetable” as a four-route system, Coun. Bill Twaddle said during the meeting.

The buses would cover virtually the same ground and continue to meet the needs of transit users, he said, while giving the city more gas tax revenue to spend on transit-related capital expenses.

It would also save the city an estimated $130,000 to $150,000 a year or $1.1 million over the life of the eight-year contract.

“If we have a chance to save taxpayers $150,000 a year, I think we should take it,” said Coun. Jim McManaman.

But Lemon said those estimated cost savings, which were provided to council by city staff, do not take into account the loss of revenue from losing riders.

Mayor Deb Haswell said she is confident “an improved three-route system” can be developed that will result in little impact to riders and ridership numbers.

City staff will work with the new transit operator to develop possible models for a three-route system. Users will be consulted, she said, before the three routes are finalized, she said.

Haswell said the city is facing serious financial pressures “and we have to simply watch where every dollar is being spent.”

Council voted 5-4 to move to a three-route system. Councillors Lemon, Colleen Purdon, Jan Chamberlain and Arlene Wright voted against the motion, which also approved hiring First Student Owen Sound to provide the service and its own buses for the next eight years.

The net annual cost of the First Student bid, when factoring in revenue from provincial gas tax and bus fares, is expected to be about $648,000 with the three-route system, according to a staff report to council.

The current system’s net cost for 2013 is $1.2 million.

A big chunk of the price increase from 2012 to 2013 is being blamed on the cost to repair and maintain the city’s fleet of buses buses.

Council has already approved closing the downtown bus terminal, hiking bus fares by 10% in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and ending Saturday service 90 minutes earlier.

Miller Transit, the current operator of Owen Sound’s transit system, also bid on the new eight-year contract, but the company’s proposal scored lower than the one presented by First Student and Miller’s cost was higher.

The city’s contract with Miller expires at the end of September.

The changes approved by council are to come into effect six months into the new contract, in April 2014.

Purdon also spoke out strongly against moving to a three-route system. She said the “future lies in using transit,” not reducing the service.

“People want more transit,” she said. “A four-route system is a better system.”

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Will they close the Owen Sound downtown Metro store?

Metro store ‘important’ to Owen Sound: Mayor 

By Denis Langlois, Sun Times, Owen Sound

Wednesday, August 14, 2013 4:39:52 EDT PM

The list of Metro stores that will close under the grocery chain’s plan to reorganize its Ontario network will not be finalized for six to nine months, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

But Mayor Deb Haswell said the city will continue to be proactive as it tries to ensure the Owen Sound store is not one of them.

“Certainly, the importance of a grocery store downtown can’t be understated,” she said in an interview.

“It’s a very important business and type of business to have in the core. There’s no question. Also, the number of jobs . . . they are jobs that we want to protect and to keep in the city.”

Montreal-based Metro Inc. has announced plans to close or convert to its Food Basics banner 15 stores in the face of “increased competition.” The company also said it will offer buyouts to some of its unionized employees.

Marie-Claude Bacon, senior director of corporate affairs, said a maximum of three of the company’s 149 Metro stores in Ontario will close.

She said she cannot comment on whether the company is considering for closure the Owen Sound store, which, while an A&P, was slated to be shuttered in 2004 before company officials changed their minds.

Owen Sound already has a Food Basics store at Heritage Place mall.

Haswell said she called Metro’s head office shortly after learning of the reorganization plan to notify company officials of the importance to the city and its residents of both the downtown grocery store and Food Basics.

She said the city is also putting together information to back up its position. She said city officials may visit Metro’s head office for further discussions.

“We’ll be speaking with the Metro folks on a regular basis. I’ll be advised directly of any news coming out about our particular stores here,” she said.

Bacon said she received the information from Haswell and passed it on to the company’s management team.

“I understand that our Metro is located downtown and that it would be quite important to you that it stays a Metro store,” she said. “But at this point, I cannot give you any assurance about that.”

A&P, which was purchased by Metro in 2005, had announced plans to close its Owen Sound store.

In the fall of 2004, after a conversation with then-mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners, company officials said the store would remain open. The former mayor said at the time that she told the company about the Big Dig, which affected business on 2nd Ave. E., as well as a plan to redevelop the east side of the harbour.

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Councillor worried riders will give up on transit

An Owen Sound councillor says she is concerned about how public transit will fare after the city implements the cost-cutting measures approved by council.

“I think we’re cutting the transit system by nicks and cuts all the way through,” Coun. Colleen Purdon said during a meeting Monday.

“I’m concerned that our ridership — when we have so many cuts — there will be just a cumulative effect where people will just kind of give up on transit.”

Purdon’s comments were made just before council approved another reduction to the service.

This time, it voted to stop running buses 90 minutes earlier on Saturdays starting Oct. 1. Buses will begin their final route that day at 4 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m. The change is expected to yield a net savings of $18,880 to $23,800 a year.

Council has already decided to close the downtown bus terminal, hike fares by 10% on Aug. 1 and again in 2014 and 2015 and add global positioning system (GPS) technology on each bus. Those measures are expected to trim about $93,000 from the $1.7 million cost to operate the system.

City council has put off a decision on whether to switch from a four-route, 30-minute-per-route system to a three-route system, which is expected to save about $190,000 a year.

The city will soon seek bids for a new contract for operating the transit service. Staff has been asked to include in the RFP a request for bidders to submit quotes for both systems. Council will then decide which one to go with.

Operations director Brad McRoberts said an average of 9,400 passengers use Owen Sound Transit between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturdays. About 1,100 ride the bus, on average, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

It will cost about $20,000 to operate buses on a three-route network during the final 90 minutes of the Saturday schedule, he said. The cost is closer to $25,000 with the current four-route system. The city will lose about $1,200 in transit fare revenue by ending early.

“That’s a significant saving by a very small reduction and it makes sense to me,” said Coun. Peter Lemon, who moved the motion.

Owen Sound’s public transit system, which carries about 300,000 passengers each year, is expected to cost property taxpayers $1.2 million this year, about $500,000 more than the cost in 2012.

City officials say about $190,000 a year in maintenance and repair costs would be saved if three new replacement buses are purchased. The city has enough money set aside in a reserve fund for transit to afford the purchase.