Opinion TheReview

| Wednesday, March 7,1990 — As

= L
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ee

WORKING FOR
SAANICH
& THE ISLANDS

Mel Couvelier, MLA for
Saanich & the Islands
wants to know your cen-
cerns.
Please visit the
Constituency office:

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CF

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Continued from Page A6 son’s budget expounds upon the
ble housing in Canada. Also there Vittues of the working people who
are millions of Americans living ave shaped this Canada of ours.
Gc on ra t | ti B z in poverty or no the street. To speak on virtues infers that he
g U (@| ion S; Le Tra Nn Sit = The poor and increasingly the has some inkling of the expecta-
5 g middle class are finding it harder “ONS working men and women
but don’t push aside LRT ee one
Ive. Carly, Wilson is out of touch
We need a socialist plan for Wilh ordinary people.
ee housing, Obviously capitalism has Wilson speaks of the need to
On behalf of the Greater Victoria Electric or climb further stairs to an outdoor station failed in this area. reduce the deficit and! to control
Railway Socicty, I'd like to have the opportunity _ platform that allows transfers to local bus routes. David Nash !/lation — then turns and apolo- *
to respond to BC Transit Victoria division ~ Between the noise and fumes of the tunncl, Victoria $12S to Canadians that this goy-
manager Bob Lingwood’s recent discussion with _ and the dirty concrete walls, this seemed to be the ; j crnment’s budget will create more
Sidney council on the direction of transit in kind of complex that looked good on the drawing Wilson ) unemployment and continued high
Greater Victoria (“Don’t hold your breath for boards — a three-in-one station — that is less touch TUSTESS (AMES,
LRT,” The Review, Feb. 21). than a joy to usc in reality... Working people do not necd
SEC Saban “Only a bureaucrat could devise the Transit- Editor: apologies. We need jobs, we need *
ullbau way: A system that is practice i i i imi ; - :
Greater Victoria Electric Railway Society anes taalinee Sue one oe Se Continued on Page A18
Light rail offers many advantages over buscs. :
To start off, congratulations to BC Transit on its Vehicles are quicter, smoother-riding, vibrate less
100th anniversary! With very limited financial than buscs, accelerate faster and last longer. They
resources, BC Transit provides excellent service aM offer better access to the handicapped. Ol
in much of Greater Victoria. 6a can ae you from personal experience in
However, we must express reservations about Uawa that bus-ways don’t help buses one iota
Lingwood’s speech. The public is being told what = When blizzards hit. Calgary Transit reports LRT GLASS & UPHOLSTERY ‘8
it is getting, instead of being asked what it wants _Vailability as 99.45 per cent. They also say their CALL US FOR 5
and needs. In many mall and fair displays and at pacer C-Train” LRT operating costs are z
the four recent Saanich Peninsula public hearings all those of diescl buses. Portland says it costs
on transportation, we have seen very strong Abie less than two-thirds as much to carry someone on 1 RON AED y ii WINDSHIELD REPAIR
interest and support for the idca of light rail LRT as on a bus. iH) POVUS “mosuievo nerains Mi & REPLACEMENT
fone The San Dicgo and Calgary LRTs are unquali- Ue eee te AND ALL YOUR
Many regional politicians have also expressed _‘ficd success stories. San Dicgo mayor Maureen = GL Tan
concem about freeways, with View Royal council O’Connor says there would be gridlock in the ASS NEEDS
being the first to endorse LRT, The Transportation South Bay area there without the San Diego #5-10025 GALARAN RD. 656-1313
Task Force for Vancouver Island recommended ‘Tolley. The C-Trains carry 100,000 passengers t
rail transit to the Western Communities. on weekdays.
All this is being ignored in favor of bus-ways, an The demise of streetcars in North America in
inadequate and expensive Band-Aid. the first place was not entircly a natural occur- : :
We are not alone with reservations about  Tence, as documented in a 60 Minutes story, A =
bus-ways. The Transportation Task Force also PY a ee City Lines, with GM, aes
wams of long-term environmental consequences irestone, Standard Oil, Mack Truck and others as
of our ees on petroleum-driven ee sharcholders, was convicted in 1947 of conspiring KODIAK ROOFING SERVICES
Tom Parkinson, a Vancouver transportation engi- _ (© buy up and destroy 45 US. streetcar companics Your Roofing Specialists
neer with 30 years experience who has worked in the preceding decade. Among the systems (locally owned and operated) S,
extensively with BC Transit, writes of the advan- destroyed was that of Los Angeles, which oper- li FIBERGLASS SHINGLES (the Best) 20 YR GUARANTEE
tages of electric rail over bus transit. Vancouver 4!¢d on 1,100 miles of track and carried 200 ® CEDAR SHAKES & DUR (
Sun columnist Jamie Lamb has this to say about ‘Million passengers in its last year, turning a & DUROID SHINGLES I
the Ottawa bus-way system after a recent visit $1-5-million profit. lf POLYESTER MEMBRANE (REPLACES TAR & GRAVEL) «&
there. He starts by giving the system’s pluscs RE-ROOFING & REPAIRS 384-2070
(flexibility and its attractive integration into the The province spends less than $10 million per BRENTWOOD BAY <4
Oltawa cityscape), then goes on: ycar on transit in Greater Victoria. Servicc is aan COMMERCE RES PEE SHOPPING CENTRE
~...the more I rode the system, the more I grew __in the core areas but has not kept up with the rapid MEMBER BBB SINCE 1983
suspicious that there was something intrinsically growth on the Saanich Peninsula and in the
wrong with the idea of bus-only rapid transit. Western Communities. The province wants to
“Take, for example, the Transitway station at St. spend hundreds of millions of dollars for freeways DON'T FACE THE
Laurent, the region’s largest shopping mall. Here and superferrics, and to kecp transit as a sidcline.
the buses enter an enormous tunnel under the We think this approach in unbalanced, cnviron- : ae : =
shopping centre. Passengers can get off, climb — mentally destructive and.docs not address. the
Stairs to a second level to gain access to the mall, expressed concerns of many in Greater Victoria.

Quality Work
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MEARS.
STEAMATIC.

2388 Beacon Ave.
Sidney, B.C. 656-6232

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