Highway 16 Transit Plan Reviewed
Prince George, B.C. – The transit plan to link communities along the Highway 16 corridor between Prince George and Prince Rupert is expected to see its first buses on the highway in early 2017., but Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall says there are still issues to be addressed.
The basic routes have been developed, many bus shelters have been erected and Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall says he will be discussing the plan with the Regional District and the Lheidli T’enneh to see how they feel about the proposed routes.
The issue for the City of Prince George is contributing to the operational cost of the service. While all communities along the Highway 16 corridor will be contributing to the operation costs of the service, right now, it looks like the City of Prince George will be expected to contribute $50 thousand a year but it’s not clear how many years the City will be expected to make that contribution.
Mayor Lyn Hall says there is still a “tremendous amount of work to be done”.
Councillor Merrick says some of that work is centred on including Prince George at the discussion table, in particular, the Bulkley Nechako Regional Transit Committee “Prince George has a lot to offer in experience in operating a major transit system and we have experienced staff at that level, and many of the proposed routes are tentatively linked to our community.”
Councillor Jillian Merrick and Mayor Lyn Hall have been selected by Council to sit seats on the Bulkley Nechako Regional Transit Committee. The Mayor says being on the Committee will give them the opportunity to get more information about the financial commitments, the term of that commitment, and the contributions being made by the Province and BC Transit particularly on the capital side of this project.
Comments
what a crock more tax payers money down the drain
AND this is for ….
” experience in operating a major transit system”
Really? They mean City Transit? A little different than highway. I wonder if there’s a few retired Greyhound bus drivers around who could assist.
What a complete waste of tax payers money. If i can’t afford to go out of town? I simply don’t go. I don’t and nobody else should depend on the government to get transportation to another town. Local transit I agree with. This is just ridiculous.
Why is it that taxpayers should foot the bill for those who can’t afford to travel between these communities? I mean really it’s been highly publicized that women go missing on this why but has that stopped them from hitchhiking? Nope. You can’t tell me that the taxpayer should pay for the bad choices of others. There is an established bus system as well as the rail system okay the schedules may not be great but one can make their plans around those schedules. This system will not work women and men continue to hitchhike this Hwy and will continue too because the schedules don’t fit their lifestyle.
There will actually be less service with this plan. I believe that Greyhound has one trip daily each way between PG and PR. As they lose money on this route will apply to end service as they will be competing with a government subsidized service. The proposed highway 16 service will be 3 days a week so if Greyhound has their way service will be less than half of what it was.
The city already has a transit system with service going as far west as Parkridge Heights. The logical end point for the eastbound highway 16 service should be the transit exchange across from Wal Mart and the passengers can then tranfer to city busses to access the rest of the city. It would be a total waste of money to run a duplicate service with stops around the city.
If this were done there would be no costs to the city and the 50 grand could be used to fix one of the crumbling buildings they own…..or make a sign for a newly named park:P
You guys all seem to have comments when it comes to wasting tax payer money. The problem here is that none of you are suggesting any solutions to help prevent a major problem that is affecting our taxpaying parents and families. How much tax money is used over decade’s investigating and researching these incidents and solutions for them.
Wait until its your daughter, son, mother, aunt etc… Not everybody lives the same righteous lifestyle you preach.
If you are not part of the solution…. you are definitely if favor of keeping the problem??
Here is a solution. EDUCATE your children about the dangers of hitchhiking. Why is it someone else’s responsibility to get your children from one town to another?
Dejgun, rather than casting stones tell us what YOUR solution is ! BTW, staying away from potentially fatal hitchhiking has nothing to do with leading a “righteous lifestyle” and everything with common sense and being cautious and avoiding risky choices. Especially when there are signs urging not to ever hitchhike.
All good comments I think.
We are certainly headed for a nanny state though, with governments expected to provide anything and everything that the average citizen might need to keep them safe and warm.
As usual, the response of our leaders is to react to the symptom (the missing and murdered) instead of doing more about the problem (criminals)
This issue has received a lot of attention in the last few years, and well it should, but providing a few free rides is not addressing the root of the problem.
I do not see where there has been more effort put into trying to catch the predators.
Even this transit system, obviously not everyone who could or should use it will do so. Many will continue to hitchhike, some will disappear.
Do they think the predators will just go away because “everybody” will be riding the bus?
metalman.
Nobody, absolutely NOBODY wants to see another person go missing and fall prey to a predator! Absolutely NOBODY!
With that being said, what will all of the proponents of this new transit system say and/or do if and when the next victim is taken?
We could ask the predators to stop their preying, but that’s about as useless as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest! So, what’s the answer, because I don’t think this new transit system is it?
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