By Doug Draper
Will Niagara’s regional councillors finally decide to put the region on the road to building a transit system for the 21st century?
We may now be only weeks away from finding out?
Will public transit buses like this one in St. Catharines finally be rolling through every municipality in Niagara. Photo by Doug Draper
The region’s council is tentatively scheduled to hold a special meeting in late January or early February to review and vote on recommendations to build and operate a inter-municipal bus system for serving the entire Niagara region – a vision that has been championed by transit advocates, but never realized for the past 40 years of the regional government’s existence.
Now the momentum to turn that vision into a reality finally seems to be swinging in the right direction.
Niagara regional chairman Peter Partington declared in an address to council earlier this fall that he is making the creation of an inter-municipal transit system one of his major priorities as council enters the final year in 2010 of its four-year term. And survey after survey of Niagara residents over the past five to 10 years has shown support growing for a region-wide transit system.
But don’t take a “yes” vote for regional transit for granted. There are still nay Sayers out there and they are all too often the ones who will take the time to contact the 12 mayors and 18 directly elected regional councillors across Niagara before a final decision is made to let their views known.
That is why it is so important that all of you out there who support building a region-wide transit system that will start with buses but could, as we’ve seen in other southern Ontario regions, move to light rail, contact your mayors and regional councillors, and express your support for transit before possibly the most critical vote on this issue in four decades of regional government takes place.
To make it easier for you to contact your mayor and regional representatives by phone or email keep reading at the end of this sentence and scroll down to the end of this commentary.
At a meeting regional councillors held late this October on region-wide transit, Niagara Falls regional councillor Norm Puttick expressed his support for such a system by asking his fellow councillors; “When are we going to grow up?”
Port Colborne Vance Badeway followed by saying that although Puttick may not have expressed his support for public transit in the most diplomatic way, he made a good point.
“When are we going to grow up,” asked Badawey. “We have to get into the mindset that we are one region. We have to take that leap and finally say that (launching an inter-municipal transit system available to all Niagara residents, as well as visitors to the region) is the right thing to do… We are one region of Niagara, just like (Halton, Peel, York, Durham and Waterloo, which all now have region-wide transit systems). Look where they are and look where we are. …. Look outside the box.”
Looking outside the box could cost the region an estimated $11 million in capital costs over the next seven years and $5 million annually in operating costs to get a region-wide transit service started. However, those costs should be weighed against the tens-of-millions of dollars spent annually across the region on building and maintaining more and more roads to accommodate more and more car traffic.
Niagara At Large will keep you up to date in the days and weeks ahead on when and where regional councillors will meet to accept any public input and to make decisions on the future of an inter-municipal transit in the region. We will also update you on details being put forward for operating and funding such a system as they come forward.
In the meantime, here is a list of mayors and regional councillors you should contact as soon as possible to express your views on this important issue. The list also includes the main number and website for the region for obtaining further information.
PUBLIC LIST
2006 – 2010 NIAGARA REGIONAL COUNCIL
2201 St. David’s Road
P. O. Box 1042
Thorold, Ontario
L2V 4T7
Telephone: 905-685-1571
Toll Free: 1-800-263-7215
Fax: 905-687-4977
On the web: www.niagararegion.ca
REGIONAL CHAIRMAN: PETER PARTINGTON
AUGUSTYN, Dave (Mayor) Town Hall 905-892-2607
Town of Pelham Fax 905-892-5055
20 Pelham Town Square, Box 400
Fonthill, Ontario L0S 1E0 E-Mail mayordave@pelham.ca
BADAWEY, Vance (Mayor) Residence 905-834-9079
City of Port Colborne City Hall 905-835-2900
66 Charlotte Street Fax 905-835-2969
Port Colborne, ON L3K 3C8 E-Mail mayor@portcolborne.ca
BATY, Brian Residence 905-892-5317
Town of Pelham
742 Memorial Drive
Fenwick, Ontario L0S 1C0 E-mail brian.baty@niagararegion.ca
BENTLEY, Bob (Mayor) Residence 905-945-2710
Town of Grimsby Town Hall 905-945-9634
16 Rodney Avenue Fax 905-945-5010
Grimsby, Ontario L3M 2K5 E-mail bob.bentley@niagararegion.ca
BURROUGHS, Gary (Lord Mayor) Residence 905-468-3568
Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake Town Hall 905-468-3266
P. O. Box 100 Fax 905-468-2959
Virgil, Ontario L0S 1T0 E-mail gburroughs@notl.org
BYLSMA, Mark Residence 905-562-0064
Town of Lincoln
3359 Second Avenue
Vineland Station, Ontario L0R 2C0 E-mail mark.bylsma@niagararegion.ca
CASSELMAN, Judy Residence 905-685-1627
City of St. Catharines Fax 905-687-6664
11 Shepherd’s Circle
St. Catharines, Ontario L2T 2C8 E-mail judy.casselman@niagararegion.ca
CORDINER, Shirley Residence 905-894-0720
Town of Fort Erie
593 Ridge Road
Ridgeway, Ontario L0S 1N0 E-mail: shirley.cordiner@niagararegion.ca
D’ANGELA, Henry (Mayor) Residence 905-227-7625
City of Thorold City Hall 905-227-6613
3540 Schmon Parkway, Box 1044 Fax 905-227-5590
Thorold, Ontario L2V 4A7 E-mail: mayor@thorold.com
FORSTER, Cindy Residence 905-714-7999
City of Welland Fax 905-714-4555
Seaway Pointe, Suite 1207
330 Prince Charles Drive
Welland, Ontario L3C 7B3 E-mail cindy.forster@niagararegion.ca
GABRIEL, Robert Residence 905-227-2612
City of Thorold
18 Renfrew Drive E-mail robert.gabriel@niagararegion.ca
Thorold, Ontario L2V 4E7
GARCIA, N. Carlos Cell 289-969-5041
City of St. Catharines
55 Dalhousie Avenue
St. Catharines, Ontario L2N 4W8 E-mail carlos.garcia@niagararegion.ca
GOULBOURNE, Damian (Mayor) City Hall 905-735-1700
City of Welland Fax 905-732-1919
60 East Main Street
Welland, Ontario L3B 3X4 E-mail mayor@welland.ca
GREENWOOD, Barbara Residence 905-358-7226
City of Niagara Falls
4584 Armoury Street
Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 1S6 E-mail barbara.greenwood@niagararegion.ca
HEIT, Brian Residence 905-935-8377
City of St. Catharines
21 Sunnyside Drive
St. Catharines, Ontario L2M 1Z9 E-mail brian.heit@niagararegion.ca
HENDERSON, Barbara (Mayor) Residence 905-386-6543
Township of Wainfleet Town Hall 905-899-3463
72778 Concession 6 Road
R. R. #1
Wellandport, ON L0R 2J0 E-mail bhenderson@township.wainfleet.on.ca
HODGSON, Bill (Mayor) Residence 905-562-4464
Town of Lincoln Town Hall 905-563-8205
3341 First Avenue, R. R. #1 Fax 905-563-6566
Vineland Station, Ontario L0R 2E0 E-mail bhodgson@lincoln.ca
KATZMAN, Ronna Residence 905-688-1993
City of St. Catharines
3 Terrama Court
St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3X1 E-mail ronna.katzman@niagararegion.ca
LEPP, Dave Residence 905-468-2980
Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake Fax 905-468-4836
1039 Line 1
P. O. Box 263
Virgil,Ontario L0S 1C0 E-mail dave.lepp@niagararegion.ca
MARSHALL, George H. Residence 905-734-4851
City of Welland
46 Rolling Acres
Welland, Ontario L3C 3N3 E-mail george.marshall@niagararegion.ca
MARTIN, Douglas (Mayor) Residence 905-871-9043
Town of Fort Erie Town Hall 905-871-1600
1 Municipal Centre Drive Fax 905-894-1609
Fort Erie, Ontario L2A 2S6 E-mail mayor@forterie.on.ca
MCMULLAN, Brian (Mayor) Residence 905-682-8457
City of St. Catharines City Hall 905-688-5600
50 Church Street, Box 3012 Fax 905-682-3631
St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7C2 E-mail bmcmullan@stcatharines.ca
PUTTICK, Norm Residence 905-356-0102
City of Niagara Falls
3820 St. Peter Avenue E-mail norm.puttick@niagararegion.ca
Niagara Falls, Ontario L2J 2N6 nputtick@cogeco.net
RIGBY, Tim Residence 905-685-8080
City of St. Catharines
18 Rockcliffe Road
St. Catharines, ON L2R 3S9 Email tim.rigby@niagararegion.ca
SALCI, R. T. (Ted) (Mayor) Residence 905-356-8652
City of Niagara Falls City Hall 905-356-7521
6453 McMillan Drive Fax 905-356-6279
Niagara Falls, Ontario L2G 2N2 E-mail tsalci@niagarafalls.ca
SARACINO, Bob Residence 905-834-0796
City of Port Colborne Fax (call first) same
536 Sugarloaf Street
Port Colborne, Ontario L3K 2P4 E-mail bob.saracino@niagararegion.ca
SMEATON, William Residence 905-356-6536
City of Niagara Falls
5814 Mouland Avenue
Niagara Falls, Ontario L2G 5N7 E-mail william.smeaton@niagararegion.ca
TIMMS, D. Bruce Residence 905-934-6816
City of St. Catharines Fax 905-934-1295
1204 Lakeshore Road West E-mail bruce.timms@niagararegion.ca
St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 6P9
TROMBETTA, Katie (Mayor) Residence 905-957-3626
Township of West Lincoln Town Hall 905-957-3346
9630 Silver Street, R. R. #2 Fax 905-957-3219
Caistor Centre, Ontario L0R 1E0 E-mail jthrower@westlincoln.com
ZIMMERMAN, Debbie M. Residence 905-945-9516
Town of Grimsby Business 905-688-0990 ext: 225
54 Park Road South
Grimsby, Ontario L3M 4E7 E-mail debbie.zimmerman@niagararegion.ca
Niagara At Large 
In Niagara we definitely need an inter-municipal transit system. It would be nice if we could think of ourselves as One Niagara as Mayor Badawey proposes…but if that was the case we should have located all government buildings and agencies in the geographic centre of the region; including the new hospital to allow equitable access for all Niagarans. Since that did not occur and many federal, provincial and regional buildings to serve the public are in or very close to St. Catharines….the kingsize share of the cost of the inter-municipal transit should be carried by the north, who have benefitted from close proximity of these facilities and the south should be subsidized to offset their disadvantage in time and cost to travel to the long list of public buildings. Some equalization ratio must be factored in if we are to ever consider Niagara as one region. Since the NHS refused to locate the new $1.56 billion hospital in the centre of Niagara; thereby cutting off the southern tier from timely and equitable access to health care, the animosity from south Niagara is toxic. Don’t come at us now with a transit system that says the south must ante up as they will use the system the most.
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The recent introduction of the GO Transit service to the Niagara region was a welcome event to many residents and demonstrated to the rest of southern Ontario that our region had reached a new level of ” maturity” even though we are considered a historic part of the Province. Now with discussions re an inter regional transit system ongoing, we are taking another step up the ” maturity ladder” which ,if instituted will provide a great transportation benefit to all residents of the region. BUT what price is this new found maturity going to have?Much much research must be done and suveys conducted before any such proposal can be embarked upon. Transit systems are’nt cheap.
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Of course, transit systems aren’t cheap, but neither is driving. Nobody ever mentions the amount of public subsidy going to the automobile … which by the way is five-fold compared to the size of a per rider subsidy going to transit. As a non-driver, until we get a proper, convenient and accessible transit service in Niagara, I should not be paying one iota towards the roads, highways, parking lots, traffic lights, parking enforcement, etc. until I have a way to get around for less than the current $3.25 a km I currently pay.
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