[jeddy1989]

Broadening public transit

The recent public transit study completed for the City of St. John’s identifies expansion to regional public transit as a key next step in the development of public transit on the Northeast Avalon.

Section 18 of the report focuses attention on the subject of regional public transit. The report’s authors, Dillon Consulting, identify several key points which emphasize the need for regional public transit. They include: increased traffic congestion due to population growth, scarcity of parking in the downtown, access to employment opportunities and community services, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improved air quality.

To make this happen, the report recommends that Metrobus ask the provincial government to facilitate the formation of an implementation team comprised of Metrobus and representatives from St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Paradise, Conception Bay South and Torbay. According to the report, the implementation team would establish service standards to ensure a performance-based approach for public transit throughout the region. ...

...Until now, most public transit outside of St. John’s and Corner Brook has been left to the private sector to operate on a for-profit basis. In recent years, many of these operators have discontinued providing the service. Most municipalities that have explored establishing their own public transit system have found it too expensive to fund on their own. This is perfectly understandable. There are few, if any, public transit systems in Canada that function on a for-profit basis. Public transit is generally regarded as a public service.

In most urban municipalities in Canada it is regarded as part of our built infrastructure and paid for out of taxes. If run efficiently it promotes access to employment, schools, post-secondary institutions, and other public and community services. It serves to improve the quality of life for citizens in urban and suburban communities as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

The next challenge for the establishment of regional public transit rests with the provincial government, the cities of St. John’s and Mount Pearl and the municipalities of Paradise, Conception Bay South and Torbay. Given the projections of continued increases in the median age of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians over the next decade, this would seem to be an item on which governments should be focused. ...

Read the full article at http://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/L...blic-transit/1