Keep the Bus Terminal Downtown!

Telegraph-Journal: Acadian Coach Lines is asking for regulatory approval to eliminate its Fredericton-Miramichi route as the motor carrier undertakes an ambitious plan to increase focus on travel between Halifax, Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton. According to documents filed with the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) and obtained by The Daily Gleaner, the once-a-day service is targeted for elimination. Read more…

Recently Acadian Bus Lines has applied to the Energy and Utilities Board to have routes between Miramichi and Fredericton, Saint John and Bangor, and the Kentville-Digby corridor in Nova Scotia ended, in favour of more express routes between the major cities in the Atlantic region. This not only represents a threat to the large number of people from North-Eastern New Brunswick, and those travelling to the United States and parts of Nova Scotia, but also to anybody who acknowledges the importance of an affordable, reliable transportation system in our province.  Read more…

Sandy Chase, The Brunswickan, November 17, 2009

If Acadian Coach Lines has their way, many UNB students could be facing difficulties getting home in the new year.

In a document submitted to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board, Acadian requested a hearing to discuss proposed changes to their current operating schedule. These changes include the proposed elimination of the Fredericton – Miramichi route and the St John – Bangor route, which could leave a lot of students searching for other ways to get home.
“That’s not only mildly inconvenient, it’s unbelievably inconvenient… I take at least 6 buses a year, and that’s just on a regular basis, that’s not counting if there’s an emergency or if there’s a meeting or an interview that I have to go to,” said Tyson Belliveau, a third year Arts student at UNB.

Read more…

350 is the safe upper limit of parts per million of carbon in our atmosphere. On October 24th, millions around the world will gather to call on governments to take action to bring carbon levels down to 350ppm (currently we are at 387ppm).

In Fredericton, a rally will take place at 12pm on Saturday, October 24th at the old Acadian Bus Lines terminal at the corner of Regent and Brunswick. In Saint John, a rally will be held at the Market Square Boardwalk from 1-2pm .

Join us for music, speeches, and solutions. Demand that governments commit to a new global deal that enacts real change, and reduces emissions in line with science based targets in a just and fair manner!

For more info on the 350 campaign, visit www.350.org, e-mail efficiency[at]conservationcouncil[dot]ca or call Julie at 458-8747.

Bus depot | Company says it has problems with downtown site
Published Wednesday July 15th, 2009
By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/729256

Acadian Coach Lines says it’s still weighing its options for the location of its Fredericton bus terminal and it’s not going to make a hasty decision.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the company said the decision-making process will take time and due diligence.

“We hope to make a decision in the near future. We will let the population of Fredericton know as soon as a decision has been reached,” said the statement issued by Manon Piche, vice-president of marketing and strategic development for Groupe Orleans Express, the owner of the bus line.

On Monday evening, city council voted eight to three to grant an amendment to the highway commercial zone to permit the bus company to relocate to 150 Woodside Lane from 101 Regent St.

Acadian has an opportunity to sublease space in the United Rentals building that would accommodate a passenger reception area, ticket counter and room for its courier and package delivery service.

The company was given notice effective in April to vacate space it leases from Commercial Properties Ltd.

After a public furor about the proposed departure of the bus station terminal from the downtown core, Acadian’s landlord relented and offered to extend its lease. The terms and conditions of the lease deal haven’t been made public.

Acadian chose to proceed with its application to council while city hall was deluged with opposition from students, the Fredericton chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and downtown business owners who support environmentally friendly initiatives.

The groups argued that a downtown bus terminal is the most convenient and cost-effective way for people to access the inter-provincial bus line. Businesses said they can walk packages and parcels to the bus depot downtown but won’t be able to if the business moves to Woodside Lane, off Hanwell Road.

“Since passenger travel is the primary part of our business, we want to ensure that our bus terminal can comfortably accommodate our passengers and our service staff and that safety concerns are addressed in the bus, passenger and taxi parking areas, as well as the pick up and delivery area,” the company statement said.

“It is clear that our current accommodations no longer meet our basic needs … Our current location is still a viable option if we can reach an understanding with the current lease holder that will address our needs.”

In a telephone interview from Acadian’s Montreal headquarters, Piche said the company needs less interior space and more exterior parking room at the Regent Street location.

Parking conflicts at the downtown bus depot are causing problems, Piche said.

“People don’t care. They just position themselves where it’s right for them,” she said.

It’s a safety problem when you’re trying to manoeuvre a 13.5-metre (45-foot) bus with private passenger vehicle pickup and drop-offs and taxi traffic, she said.

Piche said the Regent Street and Woodside Lane options are the only two sites that the bus line is looking at, unless other landlords step forward.

If Acadian opts for the Woodside Lane location, then it would be interested in continuing preliminary talks University of New Brunswick for some type of route or service opportunity, she said.

UNB spokeswoman Natasha St. Pierre said the university is open to further discussions with the bus company.

“We have said we’re open to it (talks),” St. Pierre said.

Acadian Coach Lines is owned by Groupe Orleans Express, which serves Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. It offers passenger travel, charter services and parcel delivery.

The company carries more than 1.7 million passengers per year, employs 500 people, operates more than 110 buses and services 162 communities.

Vote | Councillor says it’s not the city’s job to tell businesses where they can set up shop
Published Tuesday July 14th, 2009
By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN, The Daily Gleaner
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/728094

Acadian Bus Lines will be able to move to 150 Woodside Lane if the company so chooses after city council voted eight to three to approve a zoning amendment to the highway commercial zone.

The move disgusted activists, who jeered and catcalled councillors who said they were voting for the amendment at Monday night’s city council meeting.

That prompted Mayor Brad Woodside to lecture the crowd on showing respect for the democratic process. He warned the 60 or so supporters of a downtown bus depot not to continue interrupting or he would hold the item until the end of the meeting to let them cool their heels.

Julie Michaud is the climate change co-ordinator for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and its Fredericton chapter, which has taken the lead on the issue. It held a public rally in front of city hall prior to Monday’s meeting where people sang and waved signs.

“I really was holding out hope that the city councillors of Fredericton had the best interests of the citizens of Fredericton at heart, and they demonstrated very clearly that they don’t,” Michaud said.

She said she’ll speak to the Department of Transportation about its commitment to double the share of public transportation in the province by 2020.

“It’s a commitment that would be severely hampered by moving the Acadian Bus Lines terminal outside of the downtown core. This is the capital city of our province and the fact that we can’t take action to help Acadian find a suitable location, that they can afford downtown, is absolutely shameful,” she said.

She said the council will also turn to Fredericton MP Keith Ashfield for help since he signed a 1,200-name petition in support of keeping the bus station downtown.

“We were chastised for speaking out, but if they’re not comfortable hearing from their constituents, then they probably should not be in elected office,” Michaud said. “What we saw in there tonight is undemocratic.”

Woodside disagreed.

“Democracy is all about debate. This is democracy in action “¦ We’ve listened to everybody that wanted to speak on more than one occasion,” Woodside said. “I think tonight was a prime example of what democracy is.”

The mayor said council wasn’t expressing its preference for an uphill over downtown location for the bus depot by its vote. He said the vote wasn’t about location, but about zoning.

If it was purely a case of location, Woodside said, the entire council would have supported keeping the bus depot downtown, but council has to follow planning principles.

“They haven’t moved yet … So, they now have an option of a place where they can go,” Woodside said. “Within a close proximity of this location they could actually go and set up and nobody could say anything or have any objection. It was a zoning issue, not a location issue. According to the Planning Act … we deal with the zoning.”

Councillors Jordan Graham, David Kelly and Marilyn Kerton voted against the zoning amendment.

Graham said locating the bus depot on Woodside Lane wouldn’t add to neighbourhood property values and would obligate the city to add more infrastructure. He urged the bus station to look again to the downtown core.

Students in Graham’s ward support a downtown bus depot, and he said he was elected to represent that voice.

Kelly said residents on surrounding streets in the ward he represents made it clear they didn’t want a bus company as a neighbour.

Kerton said she was swayed by the public concerns about affordability, access to the bus station and the impact on local business.

Councillors Scott McConaghy, Stephen Chase, Stephen Kelly, Dan Keenan, Mike O’Brien, Steven Hicks and Eric Megarity voted for the rezoning, as did deputy mayor Bruce Grandy. Coun. Tony Whalen wasn’t present for the hearing of objections in June and therefore couldn’t vote.

Hicks said if Acadian could stay downtown, it would, but from city council’s perspective, it had to deal with the application on the basis of the zoning merits.

“It’s a zoning issue and we have to respect that,” Hicks said.

Grandy said he doesn’t believe it’s city council’s job to dictate where a private business locates.

Keenan said the highway commercial zone is intended to handle high-volume traffic.

The remaining councillors who voted in support of the amendment said they were sympathetic to keeping the bus depot downtown, but said they couldn’t justify voting against the amendment for that reason alone.

Prior to the meeting, people at the pro-downtown bus rally held up signs saying “Stop Clowning Around with our Climate” and “Cut Carbon Now.”

Inside city hall, two members of the public gallery unfurled a sign and hung it over the upper railing so that city councillors could see it. It read “Democratic Planning – The City’s Duty.”

Published Monday July 13th, 2009
A1
By CHRIS FOX
fox.chris@dailygleaner.com
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/726937

Julie Michaud says the city should reject a rezoning application allowing the Acadian Coach Lines bus terminal to relocate to Woodside Lane.

Michaud, the climate action co-ordinator for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, was among a group of about 10 volunteers at the Boyce Farmers’ Market on Saturday handing out pamphlets that said the move doesn’t make environmental sense.

The volunteers were drumming up support for a rally planned for 6:30 p.m. tonight outside city hall.

“We are in an era when we really need to be reducing our greenhouse gases, and public transit has to be an important part of that,” she said. “This just doesn’t make sense. It affects people trying to reduce their carbon footprint, downtown business owners who rely on bus service for inexpensive and fast shipping, students, those on a low income – everybody.”

Michaud will speak at the rally, as will representatives from St. Thomas University, the University of New Brunswick and Melinda Jarrett, a downtown business owner.

It’s being held in advance of a 7:30 p.m. council meeting to vote on the Acadian Coach Lines rezoning application.

“We are hoping to get a good show of support and we really want to encourage city council to make the right decision,” said Michaud.

“Everybody thinks this idea to move the terminal to Woodside Lane – six kilometres from the downtown – is a preposterous idea and nobody seems to be able to understand why city council would allow the terminal to move to that property.”

Matthew Tracey, one of the volunteers at the Boyce Farmers’ Market on Saturday, said he’s confident the rally will be well attended.

“We have been getting a really positive response,” he said.

“People are equally outraged as we are, people are very supportive and I don’t think I have heard anyone today that has been in favour of this move. It’s across all brackets, too.”

Officials from the conservation council plan to present city council with an updated petition tonight after adding a couple hundred signatures Saturday.

The petition calls on city council to reject the rezoning application because of the importance of the bus station to the downtown core and the negative environmental impact its relocation could have.

D5

By JULIE MICHAUD
For The Daily Gleaner

The bus station needs to remain downtown, not move six kilometres away to Woodside Lane.

Downtown is the place to be: The acadian Coach lines terminal located downtown has proposed a move to Woodside lane off hanwell road, although not everyone is happy with that proposal. Guest columnist Julie Michaud cites many reasons why the bus station should remain downtown, including easy access, the ability of downtown businesses to use the bus lines as an economical means of parcel shipping, and the fact that bus users with a wait in Fredericton patronize downtown businesses.

In an attempt to placate a disgruntled audience at the recent hearing of objections to the Acadian Coach Lines re-zoning application to move its terminal to Woodside Lane, Mayor Brad Woodside said the city was in discussions with the company and the University of New Brunswick to develop a solution that would address some, if not all, of the concerns regarding the proposed move.

This indicates the city is arranging for a limited service stop at the Student Union Building on campus. It should be noted that none of the stakeholders has asked for this, which is not surprising because it will address none of their concerns.

In a city with a student population of 12,000, a stop on campus might, at first glance, seem to be an adequate solution, but students are not the only ones who want to keep the terminal downtown.

There are the homeowners on Serenity Lane (near Woodside Lane); downtown business owners; low-income earners; those who cannot drive; and those wishing to reduce their carbon footprint.

Indeed, homeowners on Serenity Lane believed until recently that they were secure in their quiet, residentially zoned neighbourhood.

Now they face the prospect of having buses rumbling near their peaceful lane several times a day – a move that would, incidentally, require significant financial investment from the city to upgrade lighting, road and sidewalk infrastructure to accommodate buses and bus travellers.

In addition, downtown business owners rely on the bus terminal for quick, convenient and affordable shipping. With this city’s ever-expanding share of big box stores that devour local businesses in one bite, shouldn’t our small, locally owned and locally investing businesses have access to all the advantages they can get?

On an environmental level, there’s something inherently backward in this plan to make public transportation costlier and less convenient (campus really isn’t convenient for anyone other than students who live on campus) – especially by a city that aims to be the first Canadian city to reach Kyoto targets.

While many jurisdictions around the world have implemented carbon taxes in order to actively discourage the use of fossil fuels, this decision that will increase the cost and inconvenience of using public transportation effectively amounts to a tax on those who are making decisions to reduce their carbon footprint.

It’s also a tax on those whose budgets are already stretched thin, and a tax on those who are not able to drive due to physical disabilities.

As for bus passengers who are just passing through, connecting routes are often interrupted by a wait at the terminal of an hour or two.

There’s no doubt that waiting in our downtown core would be infinitely more enjoyable for bus passengers (potential future tourists, if we play our cards right) than a purgatorial stopover on an unfamiliar university campus.

Students who live in the downtown (and there are many) will be left to fend for themselves, and since most students living in residence leave in the summer, it is likely that Acadian Coach Lines would eventually deem a campus stop unprofitable and decide to scrap it altogether.

To those who maintain that city council has no business getting involved in the affairs of private business, I offer that regulating business activities is precisely what governments can and must do. If it were not so, we could have industrial operations next to elementary schools and landfills next to residential areas.

A stop on campus is not enough. The city must make arrangements to keep the bus terminal downtown.

It needn’t toil in this effort alone, however. The provincial government has committed to double the share of public transportation by 2020; and our MP, Keith Ashfield, signed the petition in support of keeping the terminal downtown.

With so many people (and levels of government) in favour of keeping the bus terminal off Woodside Lane and in the downtown core, there’s just no reason why our mayor and council can’t make a decision that will allow this to happen.

City council will vote on the rezoning application at 7:30 on Monday, July 13. The Fredericton chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick will hold a rally with music and speeches beginning at 6:30 in front of city hall before the vote.

Julie Michaud is the climate action co-ordinator with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

The Daily Gleaner

Published Saturday, July 4, 2009

Re: Editorial published June 19 called The bus stops here

Your recent editorial misrepresents both the role of municipal governments and the facts of the Acadian Bus Line move.

Municipal governments are responsible for land use planning.

Surely, the unnamed author is familiar with the function and practice of zoning. It is Acadian which is asking the city to re-zone the proposed Woodside Lane location. Rather than “meddling” or interfering, the city is doing its job.

Contrary to the editorial’s suggestion, a broad base of citizens are involved in the Keep it Downtown campaign.

In just over two weeks, 1,200 people signed a petition asking city council to intervene in the move.

The residents of the area surrounding Woodside Lane, Downtown Fredericton Incorporated, the Fredericton Anti-Poverty Organization, and both the UNB and STU student unions, have spoken out against the move.

Mayor Woodside has suggested that he is working out a solution that will address some of the concerns that have been raised.

He should be sure that the citizens of Fredericton will not accept any half-measures involving limited service stops downtown or on campus.

These stops will not adequately address any of the concerns raised but they will create new problems.

Passengers will not have shelter or locker services and they will have no way of knowing when their buses are going to be late, which they frequently are.

In the winter months they are often two hours late because they must wait for connections from P.E.I.

Does Woodside expect people to wait at these stops for hours in the winter?

Council may opt out of a lot of problems with reactionary half-measure solutions but on this issue they should be sure that their constituents will not settle for anything less than a downtown bus station.

Alex Murphy

Fredericton