Darrell Bellaart, Harbour City Star, Friday, March 27,
2009
Nanaimo residents who commute to Victoria should be interested in the Victoria Regional
Rapid Transit Project.
The project is looking at ways to improve transit to outer areas of the Capital Regional
District, but Doug Backhouse, executive director of the Vancouver Island Corridor Foundation, says those involved need to
get the clear message that a viable option for rapid transit may already exist in the E&N Railroad.
The Esquimalt and Nanaimo line, linking Victoria to Courtenay, has long been considered
a commuter option, but the train currently moves in the wrong direction. Trains start and end each day in Victoria.
A good reason would be needed to
change that schedule, and Backhouse wants to find out if the numbers are sufficient to justify the move. But that won't happen
if B.C. Transit ignores that part of the equation as it starts taking public input on transit issues for Victoria's western
communities next week.
The E&N needs $100-million worth of track improvements and some believe making
it part of the public transit system would help justify the expenditure. But governments have been slow to respond. No one
knows how many people commute to Victoria daily, but a separate government study is now looking at this. Backhouse wants the
E&N to be at least considered in the Capital Region transit study.
"If you take the Capital Region on its own, and they do their transportation analysis
within the Capital Region and don't consider traffic over the Malahat, they'll come up with a solution which is buses and
moving people around on buses within the Capital Region," Backhouse said.
He said by ignoring up-Island commuters, it leaves out a group that could help justify
a ready-made solution for transit: "If you look at them together, you can start looking at the train option." He hopes commuters will speak out and help change that.
On the Victoria Regional Rapid Transit Project website, organizers say they want to
develop "rapid transit options that will provide a safe, convenient, reliable, attractive and green alternative to automobile
travel in the Capital Region."
Transit has already started data collection and planning. Backhouse wants up-Island
commuters to give their input.
"What I've been doing is saying 'listen you guys, not only do you have this interregional
movement, you have all these people coming over the Malahat,' and B.C. Transit is starting to realize this is happening,"
he said. "People reading your paper need to know when they're holding the meetings."
The meetings are in Greater Victoria: March 31 at the Ramada Inn, 123 Gorge Rd. East
and April 1 at the Four Points Victoria Gateway, 829 McCallum Rd. To find out more, visit www.bctransit.com/vrrt or e-mail
VRRT@bctransit.com.
Comment : The E&N Railroad's recent history suggests that
its future as a passenger railway is anything but certain. There is no obvious reason (from a passenger service perspective)
for the current timetable to operate one journey northbound in the morning and one southbound in the afternoon; it would suggest
that this is the minimum service level that Transport Canada requires in order to justify the continued expense of maintaining
the line to passenger standards - and that VIARail have decided the most economic means of operating the "minimum" service
is from Victoria.
Creating an attractive alternative for commuters is not just about
track reinstatement. It's a commitment to creating a travel environment that will match or exceed the comfort and convenience
of the car at the lowets possible cost.
Nothing in this world would encourage commuters to wait at Nanaimo's
desolate and delapidated railroad station in the rain. The level of investment necessary to deliver a viable alternative
to the car is out of all proportion to the likely take-up of such a service. If we really want to discourage people from taking
their cars into Victoria's city streets, then a park and ride station on the edge of the city with fast and frequent
shuttles to the city centre is far more likely to deliver the outcome - and at a much lower cost. Using the E&N Corridor,
the shuttle could be operated either by trains or as a guided busway (which in itself would reduce costs significantly, and
would have the added benefit that existing transit buses could also benefit by joining the busway at certain points.
It's time to think outside the box!
 Sean McIntyre (Gulf Islands Driftwood) writes:
Security requirements will pose some major hurdles for seaplane companies serving
the Gulf Islands during the 2010 Winter Olympics, local airline reps said Tuesday. Restrictions on the airspace in and around
Vancouver mean all passengers will have to clear security before being allowed to land at any of the city’s airports
or seaplane terminals. Since Salt Spring has no established security facilities, all passengers departing from Ganges Harbour
will have to pass through a security check point in Nanaimo while en route to Vancouver. According to Philip Reece, director
of marketing for Salt Spring Air, the detour will make the 24-minute one-way trip twice as long. Restrictions will be in place
between January and March of 2010.
Reece said Salt Spring Air does not intend to increase prices on its routes to make up for the extra expenses. Randy
Wright, senior vice-president of marketing and communications for Harbour Air, said his company is considering its options.
Seair owner Peter Clarke, on the other hand, said he anticipates no changes in the level or quality of service to his passengers.
“It will be a big pain, but we are planning on digesting most of the costs to maintain uninterrupted service,”
he said.
Low passenger volume and increasing competition has forced Richmond-based Harbour Air to suspend all flights between
the Gulf Islands and Vancouver International Airport. The airline continues to operate flights between the Gulf Islands and
downtown Vancouver. Daily service from the Gulf Islands to the Vancouver International Airport’s seaplane terminal is
available on Salt Spring Air and Seair flights.
Comment : This could seriously affect floatplane services throughout the gulf islands. Transport
Canada needs to come clean and provide a full statement on the impact on passengers.
extracts from the Victoria Times Colonist
and other sources
 The first hybrid double-decker bus in North America - an English-built Alexander
Dennis Enviro 500H - hit the streets of Greater Victoria this week. The $1.2-million
vehicle will be used on several of the region's busy routes over the coming year as a pilot project to test performance and
reliability, fuel savings and greenhouse gas reductions, B.C. Transit officials said during an unveiling ceremony. It will
be added to a stable of 51 double-deckers now used by transit in Greater Victoria and the third hybrid vehicle in the region's
fleet now at 268.
Victoria has long been used as a testing ground for new bus technology as
B.C. Transit introduced the first double-decker in North America a decade ago and the first hybrid single-floor bus in 2005.
That made it a no-brainer for English bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited
(ADL) to use the Garden City as a testing ground for a hybrid version of the double-decker.
The hybrid bus uses a smaller engine -- nine litres as opposed to its conventional
11-litre counterpart -- and saves the most fuel in the startup mode, from zero to 24 kilometres per hour, when the electric
cells power the bus. Steve New, vice-president operations and chief operating officer for B.C. Transit, said the bus service
is still "in the testing mode" with its hybrid buses -- which now number four in Victoria and three in Kelowna. Hybrid varieties
are considerably more expensive to purchase, so increasing the numbers of this kind of bus isn't in any immediate future plans
as transit is still crunching the environmental benefits with the fiscal bottom line. "We still haven't got to that sweet
spot yet," said New, where ridership, fuel costs and emission data would cover costs for the new technology.  The unveiling came following public transportation professionals from Canada and
the USA descending on San Diego for their tri-annual convention and exhibition, Expo 2008.
“With fuel prices, traffic congestion and greenhouse emissions at the top
of the transport agenda, now is the time to take hybrid technology to a new level,” said Colin Robertson, ADL’s
Chief Executive Officer, as he launched the Enviro500H, a revolutionary hybrid bus that is expected to reduce fuel consumption
and CO2 emissions by over 25%. Robertson also revealed that his British-based company, which exports to over 20 countries,
expects to be building double deck buses in the USA by the summer of next year.
He commented: “Over the past five years we have steadily increased our
presence in Canada and the USA with double decks now running in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Las Vegas, San
Francisco, Washington DC and Seattle, and we expect demand to remain strong as more and more transportation authorities recognize
the benefits of two-tier buses.“In short, we have proved the point that double decks make sense. They have the same
footprint as a standard single deck, are more fuel efficient, more maneuverable and can carry up to 100 passengers, almost
twice as many as a conventional bus. It all adds up, particularly at a time when cities worldwide are facing increased traffic
congestion and clean air issues.
ADL has now signed a collaboration deal with ElDorado National, which is part
of Thor Industries. By the summer of 2009 ADL double decks will be coming off the production line at their state-of-the-art
facility in Riverside, California. The deal will give us full Buy America Compliance and access to their 33 dealerships across
the USA and Canada, broadening our sales and marketing opportunities in North America
Comment: Investment in hybrid bus technology remains
a huge leap of faith by the transport industry and unless governments provide real financial inducements to bus operators,
the high cost penalty is unlikely to encourage the majority to "change up" from conventional diesel-fuel buses.
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Sean McIntyre (Gulf Islands Driftwood) writes:
