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Posted Nov 26, 2013, 12:51 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: St. John's, NL
Posts: 1,309
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St. John’s boosts Metrobus subsidy by $2.5M
Quote:
The St. John’s subsidy for Metrobus is going up $2.5 million for 2014.
City council approved the boost — from $10.9 million in 2013 to $13.4 million for the coming year — at its regular meeting Monday night, following the recommendation from the city’s finance and administration committee.
Coun. Tom Hann said the bulk of the increase — $1.6 million — comes from a one-time pension payment.
“It can be very simply put: like all levels of government and lots of businesses across this country, the pension issue is one of the major things that we’re facing in the future, and they’re going to have to be dealt with in some form or another over the next couple of years,” said Hann. “The increase in the pension payment at Metrobus this coming year is $1.6 million. That’s a hefty payment to have to make.”
There’s also an extra $600,000 in operating costs, largely due to increasing weekend service to Airport Heights and Kenmount Terrace.
“The traffic has increased enough now to justify that we have to put in weekend service.”
Route 10 — which takes in downtown, Memorial University, the Avalon Mall and Kenmount Terrace — is also getting near capacity, Hann said.
“It’s a big route, and it needs improvement, and we’re going to have to put more resources to that, in terms of being able to take care of the increased traffic.”
Coun. Art Puddister said he hopes Metrobus might get a break on the provincial government’s four-cent fuel tax it charges the commission, but Mayor Dennis O’Keefe wryly said he hopes so, too, but advised Puddester not to “take it to the bank.”
Hann said the committee discussed whether to increase fares, but decided not to.
After the meeting, he said a modest increase that was discussed would have brought in about $380,000.
“Looking at the $1.6 million for the one-time payment for pension next year, and looking at the increase in operating costs where we’re going to improve service in Kenmount Terrace and Airport Heights, and looking at the improvements in service on Route 10, which is our biggest route, we needed extra funds to be able to do that,” he said. “The commission did look at raising fares, but when the budget was presented to council, we all came together and said, you know, that’s not the way to increase ridership. There are some people who ride the bus that would not be able, probably, to afford it, and depend on the public transit system.”
And while this pension payment is a one-time cost, Hann acknowledged the pension problem won’t go away.
“The pension issue is not only an issue for Metrobus, it’s a big issue for the city, and it’s a big issue for other levels of government, and it’s something that’s going to have to be dealt with in one form or another in the future,” he said. “I don’t know how you solve that one. It’s a big issue, it’s an expensive issue, and I think all levels of government and the business community are going to have to come together to try to solve that issue.”
Asked about the St. John’s Board of Trade’s call for a regional transit strategy, Hann noted he’s been calling for such a plan for the past four years.
“Other communities need to be on board, and the provincial and federal governments need to be on board,” he said. “The province seems to have a hands-off attitude toward public transit, but somewhere they’re going to have to look at that, because communities can’t handle that alone.”
Hann said 40 per cent of downtown traffic comes from outside St. John’s.
“We need to improve service. We need to have rapid transit into the downtown core, for instance, at high-traffic peak times in the morning and evening, but we can’t do that because we need rapid-transit lanes and we need park-and-rides on the outskirts of the city, and that all takes a significant, major amount of money, and other communities and other levels of government have to come together to pay for that.”
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http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Loca...y-by-%242.5M/1
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