public transit

Two men stand in front of a green and white bus in a garage. One is speaking behind a podium. There are two flags behind them.

Cape Breton municipality receives federal funding for public transit upgrade

October 17, 2024 by Bill MacCuish

The Cape Breton Regional Municipality is getting $2.3 million from Ottawa to boost public transit with two new buses, two accessible hybrid mini buses, five bus shelters and smart cards for bus fares.

The mayor and Cape Breton’s two Liberal Members of Parliament announced the funding in Sydney yesterday. MPs Jaime Battiste, Mike Kelloway and Mayor Amanda MacDougall-Merril say the funding’s necessary because ridership is increasing.

Cape Breton University started an aggressive recruiting drive for international students about five years ago resulting in more demand for buses. Some CBU students say it’s common to see them full of passengers and waiting longer for a ride is the only option.

Meanwhile, officials say public transit is cheaper for people driving vehicles and it’s better for the environment. The new upgrades will take place over the next year.

A sign for the metro can be seen outside of Mont Royal station.

What the new Canada Public Transit Fund could mean for Montreal

July 25, 2024 by Jules Bugiel

Last Wednesday, the federal government opened the process for submission to two of three funding streams in its new ten-year, $30-billion Canada Public Transit Fund.

The funding won’t flow until 2026, but cities and municipalities can start to consider which projects to submit. In Montreal, several public transit lines, mostly in the form of buses and tramways, have been discussed in public consultations this year.

Meanwhile, Montreal and other cities in Quebec are facing funding shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and the province is playing hardball over how much of the deficits it will cover.

McGill doctoral student and transit financing researcher Lancelot Rodrigue joins CKUT to discuss.

A bus stop is shown on a city street. Tree and bushes in background beside an office style building.

Township bus routes facing immediate changes

July 10, 2024 by Ted Evans

Loyalist Township is looking to make changes to the bus routes within the next two weeks.

The changes would be fully implemented by September and include a focus on increased reliability and an influx of student riders.

According to Loyalist Township staff’s report, the new routes would still cover the existing route, as well as the newly developed portions of Amherstview. Staff are aiming for increased connectivity to the WJ Henderson Recreation Centre, high volume stops, and stops in proximity to commercial locations and other employment areas.

On Dec. 11, 2023, council received a rural transit study report from the City of Kingston. Staff noted that after reviewing the results, they now have a number of transit initiatives underway to enhance and extend services. The current request to amend the existing transit route is time-sensitive and couldn’t wait for the complete report on all initiatives.

A white van with the words Commuter Connect and Eastern Charter Inc. sits in a parking lot.

Northumberland County cancels Commuter Connect service due to low ridership and revenues

July 5, 2024 by Jeff Gard

Northumberland County Council has made the decision to end the remaining line of Commuter Connect on August 2. The service provided public transportation for residents of Cobourg and area to the Durham GO station.

Last fall, County Council cancelled a Northumberland line that connected residents of Campbellford, Brighton, Colborne and Cobourg. Council had approved an extension of funding for the Durham line until 2026, pending a review of updated trends in June to confirm financial feasibility.

Commuter Connect riders can redeem any unused credits for a full refund by visiting commuterconnect.ca. Any remaining rider credits will be automatically refunded after Aug. 2.

A group of people hold a banner calling for more funding more public transit, which they say is in crisis. they are standing in a park with trees behind them

As fares go up, activists call for more public transit funding

July 3, 2024 by Jules Bugiel

Fares across the ARTM, Montreal’s regional transit authority, went up on July 1 by an average of three per cent. At a demonstration on Wednesday, activists said the hundred-dollar monthly passes and $3.75 tickets are a barrier to low-income Montrealers.

They’d like to see the city prioritize low-income users, as well as those with disabilities. But protestors say the province needs to cough up more funding – not just for the ARTM but public transit agencies across Quebec.

A poster hanging on the back of a motorized scooter reads "the CAQ says no!"

Quebecers with disabilities demand accessibility, visibility

June 5, 2024 by Jules Bugiel

Over fifty people gathered outside Premier Francois Legault’s Montreal office June 5 to call for better services for those with disabilities.

Some protestors had concrete asks – like provincial funding to make public transit more accessible. Others wanted more of a seat at the table in shaping how those with disabilities access services.

CKUT was on the scene speaking to protestors.

The Ministry for Transport did not respond to CKUT’s request for comment ahead of publication.

New transportation and infrastructure bills met with skepticism, caution: researcher

May 16, 2024 by Jules Bugiel

It’s been a week since Bills 61 and 62 were tabled in Quebec’s National Assembly, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty over what exactly they’ll mean for large transit infrastructure projects in Quebec, transit researcher Lancelot Rodrigue says.

Rodrigue, a doctoral researcher with the Transportation Research at McGill lab, came on CKUT to explain the proposed legislation. Bill 61 has seen attention for its creation of Mobilité Infra Québec, a new provincial agency tasked with overseeing large public transportation projects.

But he says Bill 62 could make just as big of an impact. That bill would change the rules around infrastructure procurement as part of the CAQ’s larger effort to take on big projects more efficiently.

CKUT has more on the story.

Waterloo mayor McCabe delivers “State of the City” address

May 10, 2024 by Dan Kellar

Waterloo’s annual State of the City address was delivered on May 2nd by mayor Dorothy McCabe at Wilfrid Laurier University, and was full of celebration of the current work the city is doing, and enthusiasm for the future.

The mayor focused significantly on the work the city is doing on housing, climate action, community building, infrastructure, service delivery, and affordability and she noted the interconnectedness of these topics throughout her speech.

McCabe also celebrated the youth of the city and the students of the region’s high schools, post-secondary institutions throughout the speech, saying of the “council for the day” students “Waterloo’s future looks very very bright”.

The State of the City was organized by the Rotary Club of Waterloo and raised over $15,000 for Supportive Housing of Waterloo, an organization which helps people who have experienced long periods homelessness with housing and other support services.

A small bus driving along a street with yellow leafed covered trees on either side of the road.

Brome-Missisquoi experiments with bus circuit pilot project

April 29, 2024 by Taylor McClure

The Municipal Regional County (MRC) of Brome-Missisquoi is experimenting with a bus circuit pilot project in Cowansville to help meet the need for alternative transportation in the area.

The bus circuit connects to the MRC’s existing transportation services, such as the inter-municipal public transit, and has been serving the Cowansville area over the last few weeks, said Khalil El Fatmi, transport services coordinator for the MRC.

El Fatmi explained that people living in Cowansville’s surrounding areas, such as Farnham or Sutton, can make a reservation for the MRC’s inter-municipal transport service to travel to Cowansville, and then hop on the bus circuit to travel to their destination within the city.

The MRC is monitoring the project throughout the next six months and the data that is collected will determine whether the project will continue and/or be expanded to other “high-requested areas,” noted El Fatmi.

A group of workers holding red and white picket signs that read "Unifor on strike" stand together some with fists raised.

Transit workers in Comox and Campbell River on strike

December 18, 2023 by Mick Sweetman

Transit workers in Comox and Campbell River went on strike Friday morning citing wages as the key reason for the job action.

While this shuts down public transportation for tens of thousands of people, the union and employer agreed to keep operating the HandyDART buses for people with disabilities.

Unifor national representative Gavin Davies says the three major stumbling blocks are the rate of pay for current employees, a proposal by the employer to pay new hires less, which he says will make it harder to recruit and retain drivers and lead to drivers working more overtime, and funding issues.

A statement by Pacific Western Transit says that the company offered wage increases that were higher percentages than those in recent BC Public Sector Union agreements, with an 18 per cent increase in overall compensation and a 15 and a half per cent increase to wages over three years.