The case for public transit

EDITORIAL

At the November 19 MV Council meeting, students from St. John Bosco School presented Council with a list of proposals. Among these was a request for a public transit system. The absence of a transit system has been questioned in the following studies/reports:

• 2014-15: Among residents’ main reasons for poor rating of MV transportation services in Madawaska Valley – The Path Forward 2015-2019 Strategic Plan.
• 2015: In the conclusions from the Final Report of Culture Summit held in Madawaska Valley.
• 2015-16: The fallout over MV Council’s refusal to licence a local taxi service.
• 2016-17 Township of Madawaska Valley Age-Friendly Community Strategic Plan This was cited as a major concern.

Transportation barriers was also identified as a challenge in a press release from the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services dated December 14, 2018 called Ontario improving rural services for women escaping violence and sexual exploitation. Perhaps it is time for Council to take a close look at this issue by carrying out a feasibility study.

Rural Ontario Institute report

In 2014 the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) published a report entitled Accelerating Rural Transportation Solutions. Click HERE to read the report. The introduction to the report included the following statement:

This [transport options] is a persistent issue and given the aging demographic of rural Ontario, the need for affordable and accessible transportation services will increase in the future. The assumption that social, economic and health needs can be met solely by private cars and volunteer programs is becoming increasingly untenable.

The report went on to provide in-depth case studies of ten Ontario municipalities who operate public transit systems, one of which was the TROUT system based in Bancroft. It noted that each of the municipalities received funding, either directly or indirectly, from one or more municipal levels of government. “All but one of the programs also received assistance from the Provincial Gas Tax Fund.” This fund, which should not be confused with the Federal Gas Tax Fund, limits payments to those municipalities who have a public transit system.

Lack of fairness identified

The ROI Report also highlights the inherent unfairness of municipal expenditures that benefit only car-owning residents.

We all pay property taxes either directly through home ownership or indirectly as renters. These taxes pay for all municipal services including roads. Since auto ownership is a surrogate of income, it means that the lower income resident who cannot afford a car is paying taxes to support a higher income resident who owns a car. Yet if there is no transit service, then the higher income resident does not support the lower income resident through the taxes needed to support a good level of transit service; herein lies the unfairness.

Recently MV Council has arguably piled unfairness upon unfairness through the way it has spent payments from the Federal Gas Tax Rebate Fund. Over the term of the last Council, the sum of $520,000 was received from the Fund. Yet despite the fact that it can be used for any of eighteen categories of infrastructure expenditure, every cent has been spent on only one, namely, roads. Nothing from this Rebate has been used, for example, for public transit, infrastructure for culture, tourism, wastewater, broadband and connectivity, and others.

As of November 2018 the sum of $3.86 million has been spent this year by MV for “transportation services;” that is to say, roads. Of that sum, construction work alone accounts for $2.15 million, not including materials and supplies. Residents who have contributed to this expenditure through their tax dollars but do not benefit because they cannot themselves drive along the roads are entitled to feel shortchanged.

Funding a transit system

In the coming year MV will receive another $136,000 from the Federal Gas Tax Rebate Plan. Providing a transit system would immediately entitle the Township to receive more free money from the Provincial Gas Tax Fund. Other sources of grant funding may also be available. In addition to this, income from fares would generate revenue. As well, perhaps consideration should be given to paring down the road maintenance budget with a view to reallocating some of those savings to a transit system.

Consider the example of the Township of Clearview. In August of this year the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) issued a commendation to Clearview for successfully taking the public transit plunge. In response, Clearview Mayor Christopher Vanderkruys said,

The Federal Gas Tax Fund assisted Clearview in the successful launch of the Township’s first transit system. The current route only serves a community of 4,500 residents, but ridership has grown to a consistent level of over 1,000 riders per month. Investing in transit with assistance of the Federal Gas Tax Fund will allow the municipality to enhance the service over time as our community continues to grow.

MV Township CAO/Clerk Sue Klatt has advised The Current that there are currently no public transport initiatives under consideration. Recognizing that MV demographics confirm that it has one of the highest proportions of elderly residents in the province, perhaps the new Council will see fit to take a hard look at this issue.

Featured image: mock-up of transit vehicle