AND WEST VANCOUVER

May 7, 1989 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 Distribution 986-1337 52 pages 25¢

Union disputes Transit’s
argument move

MEETING TO FOCUS ON
BUS CHANGE SCHEME

B.C. TRANSIT figures presenting the fiscal case for moving
North Vancouver’s 77-bus fleet to Burnaby insiead of to a
depot at Lloyd Avenue in North Vanccuver are ‘‘deliber-
ately misleading,’ charges Fred McCormack, Independent
Canadian Transit Union, Local 1 president.

The Vancouver Regional Transit
Commission will be considering
B.C. Transit’s plan to move North
Vancouver buses to Burnaby at a
special public meeting this coming
Tuesday, 10:30 o.m. at North
Vancouver District Hall.

The numbers disputed by Mc-
Cu;mack were recently presented
to West Vancouver and North
Vancouver District and City of-
ficials and the Vancouver Transit
Commission.

Outlining three North Van-
couver Transit Centre relocation
options, the benefit-cost analysis

a
“Where the figures matter,
they’re deliberately Judging to
show a benefit to the Burnaby
option. You have to be an
expert to understand these
numobers.”?
—Fred McCormack
Independent Canadian
Transit Union, Local |
president

DEL TI CE
shows a total annual saving cf
$362,000 to B.C. Transit by basing
the buses in Burnaby; and an
$86,000 per year saving by basing
only 38 of the buses at the Lloyd
transit centre, which presently
houses 28 West Vancouver Blue
Buses; but a $26,000 annual cost to
the company by moving 77 buses
currently based at an aging depot
on East Third Street to the Lloyd
Avenue focation.

But said McCormack, ‘‘Where
the figures matter, they’re deliber-
ately fudging to show a benefit to
the Burnaby option. You have to
be an expert to understand these
numbers. The B.C. Transit com-
missioners are politicians who have
to depend on B.C. Transit
figures.””

McCormack calls the plan to
keep North Vancouver buses and
West Vancouver buses from shar-
ing the same base as ‘*purely polit-
ical."”

Said McCormack, ‘‘Capital cost
requirements have been inflated
for what appears to be political
reasons. In addition to using fudg-

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporter

ed and out-of-date figures, they
are claiming that to operate out of
Lioyd Avenue, they will need a
$2.4 million additional building.
The criteria used are the number of
hoist bays. They are saying they
need three additional hoist bays.”

The $4 million Lloyd Avenuc
facility, opened in 1986 and cur-
rently operating at 40 per cent ca-
pacity, uses two hoist bays to ser-
vice 28 buses. A third bay is hid-
den under an office floor.

Adding North Vancouver's 77
buses to West Van's 28 and
operating with three bays would
result in a bus-to-bay ratio of 35 to
one. If three more bays were added
with a new building the bus-to-oay
ratio would be reduced to 17.5 to
one.

By comparison, Oakridge Tran-
sit Centre serves 450 vehicles from
cight hoist bays for a ratio of 55
buses per hoist bay. The Burnaby
Kitchener Street centre operates six
hoist bays, one of which is
dedicated to service trolley plat-
form trucks. With North Van-
couver’s buses combined with 83
Burnaby buses the bus-to-bay ratio
would be 32 to one.

While both North Vancouver
mayors are on record as opposing
the plan to move the North Van-
couver buses to Burnaby, West
Vancouver Mayor Don Lanskail,
chairman of the transit commis-
sion, has appointed an aldermanic
committee to represent his
municipality’s position on the
issue.

In September, the transit com-
mission was presented with a
22,500-name petition supporting
the retention of the North Van-
couver buses in North Vancouver.

Said transit commissioner Van-
couver Ald. Philip Owen, ‘‘I sup-
pose we'll have some stronger
sense of the issue after Tuesday.
It’s a pretty hot topic and a deci-
sion has to be made soon. The
commission has been open about
this so far and as far as I under-
stard no recommendations have
been made yet.’’

LOCAL RESIDENT Dave Morris would rather be sailizg...but with a twist. Morris built a model replica
of Sir Francis Drake’s famous 16th century ship The Golden Hinde. It took Morris five months to huild
the colorful vessel and now he sails it near beep Cove. :