By Doug Draper
Here’s a bit of encouraging news for people who want to believe there is a robust future for more public transit in the province of Ontario.
Waterloo Region's Rapid River Transit system and other transit services on both sides of our binational border are leaving Niagara, Ontario in the dust
The Ontario government recently announced a $300-million grant for a light rail system in one the province’s region, and that region just happens to be the Region of Waterloo.
And why? Well maybe because Waterloo, unlike Niagara, has already demonstrated the foresight the courage to move forward with a truly regional transit system, and has a fleet of buses serving one end of the region to the other and soaring numbers of residents leaving their cars at home and using public transit to prove it.
Unlike Niagara, Waterloo’s regional government, including its seven local municipalities (Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo, and four rural townships) took the bull by the horns a decade ago and agreed to turn over all responsibilities for operating transit services to the region. The result has been one transit agency, focused on providing the most accessible services possible to even the smallest communities in the region, and a ridership on regional buses that has increased by 80 per cent since the year 2000. Continue reading
