[MonctonRad]

Not a bad idea for a thread.

In a nutshell, while I certainly enjoy my cars, there is no question that we should be encouraging public transportation as much as possible.

This is not just an environmental issue, but increasingly an economic issue given the rapidly increasing costs of non renewable energy sources such as oil and gas. There is also the issue of wear and tear on our infrastructure and also a social justice issue given the fact that people who are unable to afford private transportation still need to be able to get from point A to point B. In addition, smaller communities need access to transportation options as well, so this is not just an urban issue.

Given the above, a coordinated approach is necessary, which means governmental involvement and this probably needs to be more intensive than simply providing a regulatory structure to the system.

I personally think that a regional transportation model should be built on a foundation of inter-urban passenger rail, serving as many of our cities and larger towns as possible.

At the very least, VIA should establish a daily train service between Saint John, Moncton and Halifax to supplement the existing "Ocean" service between Halifax, Moncton and Montreal. There should be coordination between these two routes so that passengers from Saint John could switch trains in Moncton to travel onwards to Montreal.

In addition, a VIA rail service should be re-established from Halifax to Sydney, again with coordination with the "Ocean" so that Sydney passengers could switch trains in Truro to travel to Moncton and Montreal.

Commuter rail should be established in Halifax, perhaps with service as far afield as Windsor and Truro. Neither Moncton or Saint John is currently large enough for a commuter rail service, but here in Moncton, I sometimes fantasize about a commuter rail line to Sackville and Amherst. It also wouldn't take much to rebuild the line from Scoudouc to Shediac so that there could be a service to Shediac as well. This would be expensive though and likely impractical at present.

Fredericton and Charlottetown unfortunately have lost their rail service so any expansion in public transit would require enhancing the inter-urban bus service. The bus service should complement and interface with the rail based transportation service described above. This means coordinated scheduling and passenger drop-offs at the VIA rail stations. Bus drop-offs at the regional airports should also be encouraged.

Finally, in addition to intercity express busses, local bus service to smaller communities would have to be supported. There are many low income people in rural areas who are somewhat trapped by their economic circumstances and therefore rarely travel to the larger regional cities. This situation should be recognized.

I'm a strong believer in the principal of "if you build it, they will come". This means that if the infrastructure is available, affordable and convenient, then people will be inclined to use it. That's one of the reasons why mass transit is so popular in Europe. This should be the guiding principle to any refurbishment of public transit in the Maritimes......