7 i - ce t: iob, use i any aoe eee : rae ene ee, a | tr how fore . 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