Classified 986-6222

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PETITION CIRCULATED

AN AD-HOC group of transié: workers and = concerned

members of the public is taking its case for the retention of

a North Vancouver-based bus system to the people.

Save Our Buses (SOB), the
committee to maintain a North
Vancouver bus garage, plans to
take to the streets 10 collect 25,000
signatures on a petition in a bid to
reverse B.C. Transit’s decision to
move North Vancouver buses to
Burnaby by the beginning of next
year,

B.C. Transit plans to move the
buses, presently working from the
North Vancouver garage, to the
corporation’s $6-million Burnaby
Kitchener Street operations centre,
opened in 1986. OF the 188 people
working at the North Vancouver
depot, 334 employees live on the
North Shore.

Said Independent Canadian
Transit Union (ICTU) Local |
president and SOB spokesman

Fred McCormack: ‘I canvassed
my membership, who [ believe
represent the best interests of the
public, and they are opposed to the
idea.

“SOB is opposed on the grounds
that the buses are an integral part
of the North Shore emergency
response requirement. We're op-
posed on the grounds of the im-
pact the move will have on service.
One load of lumber spilled on the
Second Narrows Bridge can block
the bridge. The effect in terms of
loss of user confidence in the
system will mean more cars on the
road,’’ he said.

‘The North Vancouver garage
recently received $800,000 worth
of . repairs. But B.C. Transit
estimates it will save $565,000 an-
nually with the move to Burnaby.

While the East 3rd Street depot
occupies 2.7 acres of land and
houses 75 buses, the $3.9 million
West Vancouver Blue Bus depot
opened by B.C. Transit in 1986 on
3.25 actes of land at Lloyd
Avenue, cucrently houses 28 buses.

Acero ong to North Vancouver
Distnw. fd. Murray Dykeman,
when the move to base the Blue
Buses at Lloyd was made, plans
called for the eventual amalgama-

By MICHAEL HECKER

News Repurter

tion of North and West Vancouver
transit operations.

Said Dykeman: ‘There was cer-
tainly the indication that the Lioyd
Avenne site would be expanded
ouce the North Vancouver City
garage was phased out. It looks
like the planning process was turn-
ed inside-out.”

Said Blue Bus transportation
superintendent Tony Lorage: **We
are proud of our new-premises and
the services we provide, and we
have room for expansion at a later
date.”’

Lorage said the facility is pres-
ently working at 40 per cent of its
bus handling capacity.

With two hoists and onc pit, the
Blue Bus maintenance shop has a
total capacity for work on six
buses simultaneously. ‘‘In the of-
fice area, underground are all the
necessary structural works for a
hoist to be put up for another
bay,’’ Lorage said.

B.C. Transit had the option to
lease district land south to Welch
Strect for seven per cent fess than
market value to accommodate an
expanded facility. Bue the corpora-
tion did not act on the option. Six-
teen of 19 undeveloped lots located
adjacent to the Lloyd Avenue
depot have an assessed value of
$43,500 each.

Said Lorage: “"1f phase two had
gone through, this could have held
250 buses, no sweat.”’

But said B.C. ‘Fransit
spokesperson Diane Gendron:
“We've made the decision to move
to Burnaby, We're not considering
putting North Vancouver buses in-
to Lioyd.”*

ICTU's McCormack said Narth
Vancouver District sold the 3.25-
acre Lioyd Avenue site to B.C
Transit for $1 to ensure a bus
operation remained in piace on the
North Shore.

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“1337 48 pages

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NEWS photo Mike Wakatlold

THE WALLS of the Lonsdale Manor came tumbling down Friday when demolition crews moved in to
remove the building as part of site preparation for the long-delayed overpass at Lonsdale Avenue and the
Upper Levels Highway. In May the $20 million project was officially stalled again after former highways
minister Stephen Rogers told the News there was no money for the overpass in the 1988 provincial &
budget. The 20-unit Lonsdale Manor, originally buitt in 1953, was expropriated Aug. 4, 1987, after the
provincial government failed to reach a purchase agreement with apartment owncr George Riste, who
wanted a building of equal quality and size for himself, his wife and his apartment's tenants. Highways
officials said Friday the apartment was removed because it was unsafe. Demolition, they said, was not
rejafed to any start in overpass construction. The overpass project was first promised in the early 1970s
and has been periodically resurrected and put to rest ever since.

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