Most people who use transit in Prince George do not own cars, and therefore there is no reduction in pollution.

To get people to ride a bus instead of driving their car is not easy. Its much like the HOV lanes in Vancouver, where you must have two or more people in the car to use the lane. Usually there are very few vehicles in the lane because most people drive their cars, and have no passengers.

These programs all sound good but do not stand up under scrutiny.

We have many buses running around this town 16 hours per day with very few people in them. One could argue that they are huge ;polluters.

How do you get the people out of their cars and into buses. I have no idea, but it would be a frosty Friday indeed before I made a switch. I suppose if the Mayor and Council, City officials, RCMP, Judges, Lawyers, Teachers, University Teachers, Business people etc; all rode the bus, then I might consider it, however that is never going to happen.

The reason they call bus service Mass Transit, is because it is for the masses. Those who do not consider themselves part of the masses, drive their cars.

Have a nice day.

That goes for me too.

And here I thought it was because it was primarily for the Catholics who went to Mass.
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Here we have another one of those stupid statistics that measures apples to oranges.

This time we measure both energy as well as pollution of a VEHICLE and compare it to the PASSENGER on a bus. Not the BUS, but the PASSENGER on the bus.

For starters, I wonder why it says 4 years versus 40 years. Is that not the same as 1 year versus 10 years? Why not make it 10 years versus a century? That makes is sound even worse.

Back to the apples and oranges.

So how many passengers in the average passenger vehicle? Would two sound reasonable? Certainly more than 1.

Let's say 2 just for fun. So, in fact, we would have an apples to apples comparison of 1 PASSENGER in a passenger vehicle uses as much energy and produces as much pollution in 1 year as 1 PASSENGER in a bus produces in 5 years.

So now we have a 5:1 ratio.

But how many passengers in the average bus? Is that an average bus in a small community such as Prince George? Or is that an average bus in a large urban area such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver?

If that is what it is, then we would have to compare the average Canadian bus to the average Prince George Bus.

In that case, I suspect that the average passenger in a car in PG puts out the same pollution and expends the same amount of energy as the average passenger in a PG bus. In fact, could even be less.

Interesting, isn't it. The tales they tell us and we usually just swallow them whole. Typically, I am afraid, those who pass on the information do not know the source themselves and just take as the gospel truth.

Of course, if someone tells me that it is not a generic statement but one that is specific to Prince George, then I would like to know who did the calculation and what data was used.

Palopu said:

" Most people who use transit in Prince George do not own cars,..........."

That is an interesting "fact" as well as the one about buses running around town for 16 hours per day with very few people in them.

Who has time to observe buses for 16 hours per day?

I own a car. I drive the car, travel on Prince George Transit buses and I ride a bike.

I often travel by bus in combination with my bike. Transit buses are equipped with bicycle racks to transport bikes.

There are many transit passengers who own motorized transportation.

It is a misconception that only the poor and marginalized travel by public transit.

Some people, in Prince George, even choose to live without a car because they know the true cost of an automobile.

whatever--you're one in maybe 4000 people who do that. You can bet the earth didn't get any greener nor did the atmosphere clear up even a microscopic amount. There's 1.3 billion people in China and 6 billion in the world. The 30 million in Canada amounts to a fart in a hurricane and wouldn't change didly if we all walked..

Norm1. If you travel the bus then you are in a good position to see that they are totally under utilized. If you also have a car, and a bike, then you are the exception to the rule, not the norm. (no pun intended) Most bussers dont have cars.

You dont have to spend 16 hours per day observing buses. You just have to look at them at any given time during the 16 hours period and you will see that they have very few passengers. In fact it is a standing joke in this town. Those buses rarely have a full load, which would be approx 48 Passengers.

The buses are necessary for those who have no other means of transportation, especially if they live in College Heights, or the Hart Highway. They are a necessary evil, however they are huge polluters, and spew diesel fumes into the air all day long.

The Transit Authority, along with the Art Centre, and Public Library have a unique way of counting users. As an example if 10 people used the bus 2 times per day, 5 days per week, it would be reported as 5200 passengers per year, which is correct, but it is also correct that 10 people used the bus 5200 times per year. So we only have 10 users, but a big number. The art centre and library do the same thing. So in essence we are paying huge money to transport a very small number of people.

What we need is some sort of arrangement with the local taxi companies to provide this service, and get rid of the buses altogether. This would create huge savings, and of course get rid of the pollution.

One other small point. I'm pushing 70 years old and I had a period in my life when I had to walk and ride a horse; then a bike and then a bus. It was a long time ago. I'm not going back to that because I've paid my dues and deserve better. If I smog up the world for my grandchildren - - oh well - - I want some luxury now until I die and that's the bottom line.

And of course the air quality has nothing to do with all of the forest fires in the province... and the wind change... you can smell smoke all day... the sunset is purple... the mountains are a haze of smoke... better shut the car off :-S

I agree supertech. There are bigger fish to fry than a few people riding a bus, and pretending to make a difference.

We all know who the big polluters are, and we do nothing. We harass locals, and try to get them to stop barbecuing in the back yard. What a sham.

It would be nice to have clean air , but it is also nice to have Jobs. I can't understand why Rustads is closed down Lakeland and Dunkley saw mills are still going strong could it be they are still localy owned ?? I sure hope it is not Union Breaking going on.

bitter says "I sure hope it is not Union Breaking going on" Of course it is It's Canfor, Jimmy Pattison owned, the greatest union breaker of all. One of Campbell's best buddies.

Glad there isn't a lot of carbon in the air these days. Might be another reason to raise our carbon tax. Wait a minute! Burnt trees, smoke. wind, hazy skies? Hmmm? Carbon tax supposed to help us? Not this week.

Dunkley Lumber is owned by the Novak Brothers. I beleive that Lakeland is 1/3 owned by Canfor.

Some people think that Rustads will open again, but I am not so sure. They are a long way from their log supply, some come from as far away as Dease Lake.

I think that the mill itself is a well run mill, however with the present downturn in lumber prices, that could last for a number of years, how many mills do you actually need. I suspect that before they would consider starting up Rustads, they would go to 2 or 3 shifts at their other mills. Ie; Bear Lake, Isle Pierre, Clear Lake, Pr George Sawmills, Vanderhoof, Houston, etc; etc; etc;