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NEWS ARTICLES OF SUPPORT
Reprinted with Permission
Caledon Enterprise
Wednesday August 9, 2006
Local operator outraged after bus bylaw passed.
By Adam Martin-Robbins
Caledon's new bus by-law is onerous and unfair, says the head of a local transit company. But Town staff say the new regulations are necessary to ensure the safety of local riders.
Councillors sided with staff and voted last week to introduce a new by-law regulating those looking to provide bus service within the Town limits. That by-law would force transit companies to, among other things, use buses that are 15 years old or less and designed to carry no more than 20 passengers.
Darren Parberry, president of Metis Transit Ltd, says the by-law will drive him out of business.
"I'm furious", he said, after storming out of the council chambers August1. "Nobody regulates the type of buses. Are they trying to bankrupt me before I even get started? The average useful life of an urban transit bus in Canada is between 15 and 20 years. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is operating over 100 buses that are over 20 years old and still meet current Ministry of Transportation standards."
He added that most of the by-law, including the requirement that operators get a licence each year from the Town to operate a bus service and that they must hold an insurance policy with minimum liability coverage totalling $8.7 million is redundant, because there are similar requirements under the Public Vehicles Act - provincial legislation governing local transit operators.
Parberry says he should only have to get a licence from the Ontario Highway Transport Board and comply with provincial regulations to operate in the Town.
"There is existing legislation currently in effect in the province of Ontario that covers 90 per cent of the (Caledon) by-law that was passed,' said Parberry, "That legislation is good enough for more than 300 public and private transit companies, but not the Town of Caledon. What really, really bugs me is that it's the people of Caledon that are going to suffer because nobody can get to their jobs. More money would be spent locally if people had mobility."
But Town staff disagree that the by-law is unfair and unnecessary.
Nadia Koltun, the Town's lawyer, says the bus age requirements were set to allow Parberry and other small transit companies to operate using less expensive, used buses.
She says two consultants "who are very familiar with the bus industry" told the Town that transit companies begin taking buses out of service between 10 and 12 years. Therefore a 15-year age restriction would allow a small transit company, such as Metis Transit, to pick up a used bus and put it on the road for up to five years rather than forcing them to buy new buses, which are far more expensive.
Koltun also said the Town's by-law is necessary because the Public Vehicles Act only regulates buses that provide service between two municipalities. Buses that pick-up and drop-off passengers within one municipality, on the other hand, are governed by that municipality's by-laws.
"If the Ontario Highway Transport Board licence covered that we wouldn't be regulating it," she said"The Town's by-law) is to ensure safety for passengers who are going to ride (on our) highways. If it wasn't needed the Town wouldn't have interested itself in a by-law."
She says the Town's by-law is similar to what is contained in the Public Vehicles Act, because that act reflects industry standards.
But Parberry says he'll let the Town's electorate determine if the Town is being fair.
"I'm going to let the public decide," he said. "This is an election year...and I'm running for council."
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