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NEWS ARTICLES OF SUPPORT
Reprinted with Permission
Caledon Enterprise
July 12, 2006 - Caledon Enterprise
Bus regulations Unnecessary' say opponents - Bus system will bring crime
By Adam Martin-Robbins
Caledon's proposed bus bylaw amounts to a lot of red tape, according to the head of a private bus company looking to set up shop in the municipality.
"We need to do what's best for the students, the seniors and the whole Town," Darren Parberry, president of Metis Transit Ltd., told councillors and about 15 other people gathered at a public meeting Tuesday, July 4. "Let's get the job done, but also let's avoid the duplication, it's not necessary."
Parberry tried to launch a bus service, in the Town earlier this year, but shut down operations after about a month. At the time, he said service was suspended because of financial trouble. However, at Tuesday's meeting, Parberry said it was simply a trial run. "It was a pilot project and pilot projects have an end."
Now, the Town is looking to regulate anyone or any group trying to bring transit to Caledon.
The proposed bylaw outlines a number of restrictions on those looking to pick up and drop off passengers within Caledon's borders. If passed, the bylaw would require bus operators to use small, (approximately 20-passenger) buses that are 15 years old or less.
Parberry says the age restriction is unreasonable.
"Why should it be 15 years? It makes no sense," he said in an interview. "Lots of transit companies out there have re-built buses that have been operating for 25 years. TTC has 25-year-old buses."
Under the bylaw, bus company operators would also need to meet a number of other requirements including:
* having $8.7 million worth of insurance covering against injuries, death or property damage
* provide the Town with copies of annual inspection certificates from the Ministry of Transportation
* employ a licenced mechanic to maintain the buses
* provide a suitable office .and location for parking and performing maintenance on the buses
* provide a copy of the Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration Certificate
* provide a map showing the route or routes the buses will travel including where stops will be located
* provide a timetable showing scheduled times of arrival and departure and number of trips buses will make on a route
* obtain a one-year operator's licence issued by Caledon council.
Parberry said most of these requirements are unnecessary because they mirror what the provincial body that oversees transit calls for when it issues bus licences.
"Insurance is a duplication because it's already required by the Ontario Highway Transport Board," he said. "And (under provincial regulations) buses have to be inspected every six months, so there's no need for the (Town's) safety regulations."
But the Town's lawyer says the provincial regulations have serious shortcomings.
"If the licence is issued by the Highway Transport Board, it's good forever," said Nadia Koltun, the Town's director of legal services, "And there's no followup by the board to ensure the operators are complying."
Parberry says that's not true.
"When someone complains there's an investigation," said Parberry. "So it's not a licence to do anything you want."
A few people at the meeting came to voice their support for bringing buses to Caledon.
"I'd just love to see transit in Caledon because I'm a student and I don't have a car," said Vanessa Butter-worth, one of five people who propped cardboard signs outside Town Hall's main entrance reading Transit Now, No More Roadblocks.
Graeme Cherry, another of the five transit supporters, echoed Butterworth's statement.
"I would love to see a transit system get put in Caledon," he said. "I'm young and I don't make that much money... When you need a car to get to work it really eats into you income."
But not everyone at the meeting liked the idea of buses rolling through Town.
"I'm kinda against the bus system because I feel it will bring a lot more crime," said Ida lantria. "Kids will just be running around more than they are now... The bus service is basically for teenagers, and I think teenagers need to be kept busy with part-time jobs and grass cutting."
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