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. By MAUREEN GORDON
' TERRACE — The Terrace

' transit: ‘system is: one of. the
; smallest arid friendliest in the

 provines,~-.+--

It. consists. of a. ‘small,
handicapped-access bus called a,
handyDART, a mini-bus and a
Tegular, sized : transit. bus and
MOVER ‘People around the Ter-

ea.dat arate of: 107,598

per-year:
nid es pér resident ayear.”
"Because Of the low tidership,
verbo knows’ each other.
 Ephis tis. “our ‘visiting bus,”
‘says driver Marj-Anne’ ‘Cline of
ithe 9 a.m tunte Thornhill. “If
iyou don’t know an anybody when
-You: get onthe busj-by ‘the time
‘you get off you do.’ -
‘ uCline djaws:.the long vehicle
‘ip, to thé Skeéha Mall stop at
8:57am. ! Bie i
‘One passenger: sits - at - the
“front and.anotHer halfway back
‘onthe left-hand side. :A. woman
sand two ‘children who know
‘Cline by-nameboard the bus.
it 8 her daughter, Nancy
“Cc ihoo, taking her friend’s

i pliildren for’a‘ride on the bus.
The children: run to the back
Sof the near-emply. vehicle, and
f Jade, :7; says he's hungry.
' + "We'll have-a treat -at the
“store, pumpkin,” Cline Says,
: Meaning , the Hilltop. Grocery
: store i: ‘Thornhill where the bus
will pause for seven. minutes.
Cline pulls out at 9 a.m. ‘to
begin the route.
- The passenger in front leaves
_ at the Safeway. stop.
“(She rideg:every, day,”? Cline .
tells of het - passenger.’ Her
husband died and’ she made ita*

OF those: were . spent “

vn a att onl bus,

‘You know, I’ve thought

‘several times whatever possess-
ed me to start bus: ‘driving,’ she
‘says. “q never even thought of it

‘angil 1 was looking for work the
fin, ‘year I got here," pointing
out Ehat with: ‘only ; a grade seven
education she doesn’t -know
where else she could find a de.

she adds. “The secon genera-

"Terrace Standard

or‘an average ‘of FT

DRIVING A bus is more thari a job for Marj-Anne Cline. Her dally

_ route puts her into close contact with passengers who regard her as

poy -_

a friend. And, Cline’s vantage pa

int fram behind the wheel gives

here a unique perspective of life in the Terrace area.

> tion, She's got ry -school bus '

run. ”
Cline ‘drives: ‘all the, Terrace
routes at different times during

the day, starting. with in-town
ones, Then she does. the Thor-.

nhill run and handyDART runs
tater in the day.

Route § Thornhill, which in-
cludes a loop. down Queensway
and one on ‘Copper Mountain,
takes an hour.’

The second: passenger gets off
near the Kitselas band ad
"Minis FAO Buildings. ~

“T usually have five or six by

demiohstrittinig ‘hot

SPECIALIZED: VANS are vwakhe it'easler for people, wi disab
to'at olit arid about: That's local bus service manager Dave Storey.
wheelchalr ramp works on one. of the vans.
The local - handyDART® van will soon be getting more of. that
specialized dt éen ‘Twoh hours a day ofits use will soon be shifted from

a

now;”?, “Clirie’ says as we ‘head -
‘back along: Queensway to the
Old Bridge:"”

_ “They say if you ride the bus
you get to see the whole towa.””

The next. stop is on Copper. -
where Loretta

Mountain;
Brazeau, who doesn’t. “drive,
gets on,

Every second of “third day

Cline has 14 or 15 passengers.
Today she’s had six, : ;
cathe b wishes more people us-

ov ‘aed don't ayeoles He

kind ‘of hours. “people” would

Special

like,” she says, adding that a
gap between 1 p.m. and 4:30

p.m. makes bus travel inconve- ‘
-nient for Thornhill: residents, ...

“They alsa said they weren't.
here to, cater. to Thornhill
because iv s Terrace transit.”

Monday to Friday there are
six Thornhill runs.a day, com-
pared with 11 on the Soucie run,
14 on the Halliwell run and. 15.
Keith runs adays2*

- After the -stop.:at Hilltop

fractal nS EDS ANE Puts

town, noting joings
of acquaintances « on the way.

“Good job, vi,” she yells out
the window to a woman stack-
ing split wood. ‘Looks like

* Frank’s dog is loose again,” she

says at another yard.

The bus heads over the new
bridge and around to the mall
and Cline cails goodbye as her
five passengers disembark.

Cline enjoys the job — and
her passengers enjoy her. She
‘says that during her last vaca-

in. people kept king ‘when
3 gould’ be back Pane ie
~ -bethuse' they missed her. aoe

using

service growing

TERRACE — An unforeseen
interest in B.C; Transit’s han-
dyDART bus service — pro-
viding door-to-door, service for
disabled people — is resulting in
increased hours of operation,

yet overall bus ridership has not -

increased, says an, area. transit
operator.

Dave. Storey of ‘Coastal Bus
Lines, the company that~ has
supplied. the bus’ service . for

B.C. Transit since it started here.

in 1988, said the handyDART
service which went ‘into’ opera-
tion last summer already has
140 registered users.

That’s 35 more than were
listed at the end of the 1990
operating year and almost dou-
ble the number expected a year
ago.

Wer re actually finding in
‘the last * year that the new transit
system ~ is more popular,””
Storey said,

He plans to shift two hours
each: day. of the handyDART

1) van. service from regular transit

- service over to extra custom ser-
Vice for'the handicapped.
“This is added service,”
‘Storey: ‘stressed. “We'll put an

“extra bus on-the road 'to make
‘up the hours on the regular ser-
° ‘lee. .

- A. driver that was working
‘part ‘time now fills -in the runs

the handyDART used to do.

Also planned is four runs a
day to the Kitsumkalum
reserve, Storey said. The Kit-
sumkalum band council re-
quested bus service into town
last ‘April. °

He expects the changes to be

Plans are underway to
reduce the hours the
handyDART van is used
in regular’ transit service
so it can be used more
for® handicapped ser-
vice,

in place by. Christmas.

The frequent changes the Ter-
race system has undergone in
the last few years are normal for
A new’ operation, according to
Storey,

“When we first went into
(providing bus service for Ter-
race) | we were not sure of the

_ market — we just put our feet in
' the: ‘water and:set up something

and. said let’s sec where we go,”

he explained. .

"We had to reach a certain
amount. —_ ‘had: to hit 120
(passengers) — before B.C.
Transit, would consider increas-

ing the service."

He said he is also considering’

expanding the area served to in-
clude the Copperside Estates
east of town, and has received
requests for runs to Lakelse
Lake, which he doubts will be
implemented because of the
distance.

Despite the popularity of the
custom service however, ‘‘our
ridership doesn't appear to have
increased any,”’ Storey said.

That means that use of the
conventional bus system is
down. Indeed, the 1990 budget
showed an average of 21.8
passengers per hour rode the
busses last year, down from the
expected number of 24.2, and
also down one passenger per
hour from the year before.

One reason for the decrease
could be the layout of Terrace,
which does not have a highly
concentrated downtown work-
ing area, Storey said.

“Here, you don’t get so many
people using it to go to work
(compared with other cities),”*
he pointed out.

But Terrace residents could
also improve their record, he
added.
~ “A lot of people aren’t using
it that should be — both for en-
vironmental and economic
reasons,”

“TRE Start I. for. people

: depot may have to close .
Soon, D Not enough peo:

"Recycling
in trouble —

_ EVERYBODY wants to...

-recycle their garbage.
‘But they might not be

_/ ableto do that for much

longer." The. ‘recycling .

Soe lpia run it.

Roadwork

LAKELSE Avenue. was
closed .,earlier. this
week, : Cars couldn't
drive there;. because
workers had to dig up
the road..Water. pipes
had-to be changed. so
the grocery store can
build a a Digger building

Wednesday, October: 30, 1901 - Page 6. :

To THE TERRACE STANDARD

[Leading
|| the way

An open letter to:

David Parsons

Major Projects Review
Process +s.

Victoria, B.C... -

Dear Sir:

Pulp and Paper, Mill. -
Proposal .

Lam writing you on a per-
sonal note to thank you for:

tion meeting on. the..above
noted project in Terrace to

and express their. concerns:

dustrial Site situated between:
Terrace and Kitimat. .

As you know, I was:a
member of.a team from Tet=
race who: toured the Lake
Superior pulp and paper mill,
in Duluth, Minnesota. and
the Blandin mil} located in
Grand Rapids, Minnesota. I
was extremely impressed
with what I saw and heard

located at the. Dubose. =|

RE: Orenda Forest Products

attending the public informa- [-
allow the citizens of Terrace}
to gather further information}.

with respect to the proposed
pulp and. paper -mill to. bef

with respect to those mills. I

posed by Orenda.

The general public in
Duluth and Grand Rapids,
those living very near to the
mill sites, were supportive of
the mills and did not view
them as any threat to their
community, environment or
economy.

I was also struck by the #-

number of young people-who

were employed in those mills |

with very good: paying jobs
and who seemed excited
about what they were doing.
I was impressed by the equip-
ment in those mills, supplied.
by Tampella of Finland, and:
it seems to .me,: it-is- unfor-.
tunate, that the woods in-:
dustry in British Columbia.

‘A GaniiGt ‘desight!VHae éypel oil
S$uperioriomachiistyy dads
equipment, for-use in British §

Columbia. What a bonus to
British Columbia if we were:
able to be leaders in the
woods industry,

For the above noted.
reasons, employment and en-

vironmental enhancement, I

feel that the Orenda proposal:
is one that we should very:

much encourage in British.

Columbia; and particularly

at the Dubose Industrial Site.

This mill could be used as
an example with respect to.
pollution abatement and 1
am sure that once this mill is.
in operation, other pulp and
paper mills will look at it
with a view of raising their
own standards in. terms ‘of
minimum environmental i ‘im-
pact.

Rather than demanding
that pulp mills not be placed
in my backyard, the -em-
phasis should be on develop-
ing superior technology. in
British Columbia to lead the
world in showing that in-
dustry and environment can:
be much more compatible in
today’s world than previous-

understand those mills to be |
very similar to the mill pro-

ly thought. It would be. a:
bonus to our young people to
be. leaders in the field of en-
vironmental technology. .
_- °° Sincerely yours
Jack Talstra ©.
’ ‘Mayor
City of Terrace

“ Orenda’ 'S
‘fairy tales

An open letter to:
Mr. David Parsons, —
Co-ordinator, MPRP,
Victoria, B.C,
Dear Mr. Parsons: ye
Orenda plans to build - 8
groundwood pulp and paper.
mill ‘on Onion Lake -Flats,:

ty, To investigate their choice |

comply with. MPRP: re-.
quiresnenits, .. Orenda_ hired

reports for them so they’
- This, two volume prospec-

some. of these’ statements’
thay be misprints, some

J hillside above our communi- | |

of the proposed site and. |

different: consultants | to do: :
could compile a prospectus,

tus is loaded with statements |
which are untrue.’ Although I