Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Bill Bradley
Greater Sudbury Transit celebrated its five millionth user
in 2008 just before Christmas, said Robert Gauthier, manger of
transit operations.
Samantha St. Amour took the honours for being in the right
place at the right time.
"I use the bus a lot," said Amour, as she collected a hug and a
bag of gifts from Mayor John (the bus driver) Rodriguez.
Amour was a former student of Rodriguez when he was teaching.
"I was at St. David's school from grade three to six," she
said.
Rodriguez said he was a firm supporter of public transit.
"In bad weather like we have been having recently it is safer
to use the bus than to drive."
He said he was also on a campaign to get better train service
to Toronto from VIA Rail.
"People want to do the right thing and drive less. We can see
today with the increased bus usage by our citizens. But it is
not acceptable that you cannot get a train to Toronto during
normal hours. You can only catch the train in Sudbury at 2:20
in the morning."
Rodriguez said he received a letter from the president of VIA
Rail informing him that they were changing the schedule for the
transcontinental service.
"To return to Sudbury you have to catch the train at 5 a.m. in
the morning. Sudbury deserves the right to have an express
train to Toronto."
Bus ridership continues to grow at Greater Sudbury transit,
said Gauthier.
"It increases by 100,000 user rides each year."
More people are using the bus because of high gas prices this
summer and better service, he added.
"We have added the U-Pass at the university, increased buses in
the evenings and Sunday morning. That allows us to service call
centre employees and shift workers at the hospital for
example," he said.
"That allows workers who start earlier to get to work. We also
added a new Valley bus run. All this makes the transit system
more attractive to riders who started too early or finished too
late to take the bus."
Increased bus use takes cars off the road and lessens
congestion on busy roads, said Gauthier.
Bus user fares contribute to about 52 per cent of the cost of
operating the services.
