Brock buses a problem on Winterberry Boulevard
Large articulating buses have no business being on Thorold’s Winterberry Boulevard, says Coun. Anthony Longo.
Saying the double buses create a safety hazard as they “travel down Winterberry, which is an arc, with many blind spots,” Longo asked his fellow councillors Tuesday night to support him in rerouting buses to Richmond Street.
Because the majority of transit riders on Winterberry are Brock students, Longo said the buses — funded by the Brock University student union — should continue to be funded by BUSU “or other non-municipal sources,” and that a new route be approved by staff and council by Jan. 1.
“I brought this issue forward in 2016,” said Longo. “It looked like we were going to move the buses off Winterberry, but a few phone calls and emails (from residents) and I lost my support from council.”
Longo said the route was never approved by council, and there was no consultation allowing Brock officials to route a double bus down Winterberry, a remark that sparked a lengthy debate between council members and representatives from Brock.
“I’m for public transit 100 per cent,” said Longo, “but we need to offer the service properly. They need to run on a grid pattern on our main arterial roads, not on secondary streets. In St. Catharines, they don’t go into neighbourhoods, so I don’t know why we do it in Thorold.”
Coun. Jim Handley also has concerns.
“I clocked the bus reaching speeds of 60 km/h (on Winterberry),” he said.
“It’s not right in the neighbourhoods. It’s our jurisdiction. We make the decisions; not Brock.”
When residents who filled council chambers applauded in response to Handley’s remarks, Mayor Ted Luciani threatened to “empty the chamber” if visitors weren’t more respectful. A special motion was passed to allow Brock representatives to speak.
Faisal Hejazi, president of Brock’s student union, and Chris Green, its general manager, both argued that they had consulted the mayor, former city staff and Coun. Terry Ugulini about the Winterberry bus route.
“We were consulted about changing routes but the Winterberry route was already in existence,” said Ugulini.
Green quoted ridership statistics for last year of 133,000 total uses on the Winterberry route and said 13,000 of those were from “ordinary citizens,” as opposed to Brock students.
He said articulating buses are based on ridership, and determined by St. Catharines Transit Commission.
Green said re-routing the Winterberry bus would “create a lot of other issues.”
“Transit needs to be accessible. The city is not built on a grid like St. Catharines. While it seems like it might be a quick fix, it’s not the fix. We are willing to loop the bus from one end of Winterberry but we need a way out of the subdivision because it’s not built on a grid.
“We have made many changes so to say we are not trying is not fair,” Green added, referring to decreasing the number of buses on Abbey Street and other cuts made to bus routes.
Coun. Mike Charron suggested co-creating a plan with transit officials, city staff, council and Brock representatives by Jan. 1.
“We shouldn’t be always talking about people from Brock in a negative way.”
Coun. Sergio Paone said he was disappointed the Winterberry route wasn’t discussed by the city’s Town and Gown committee, which addressed bus route problems on Abbey and Keefer roads. He asked that a contingency plan be made “for removing these buses so everyone gets a ride to school and quiet students aren’t punished.”
Longo replied, “Go down Richmond. Turn right on Confederation instead of Winterberry.”
“Simple: get the bus off the street. Bring a plan to council. Seventeen years this has been going on.”
Coun. Fred Neale said other streets should be bus-free as well, including Summers Avenue and Queen Street.
“Having students walk a few blocks from Winterberry to Richmond is no problem,” said Neale.
Ugulini said ongoing development and construction on Winterberry will create a problem of students “cutting across people’s lawns on Silver Maple Drive” to catch the bus at Richmond Street.
“We need a transit plan throughout the whole city,” said Ugulini.