_ argument. Serer raed aetna ete Santas Setherer idaieatric annie Maan to when it’s nudging a dollar a gallon?). More and over: and many of them don’t have even one car. Lonsdale and 13th in North Van is five miles from central: Ambleside and. 14 from Horseshoe Bay. Just this: lay in heaven's ' mame --‘ten. years after man landed on the. moon -- can't we have an adequate bus service between West Vancouver and Lions Gate Hospital? - The hospital, which serves ‘the entire North Shore, is i not the only point in this But we'll deal with it first because it’s an important point for the aging population of West Van which helps pay for it. . If you live, for example, in Dundarave and don’t have a car, you can easily spend up to an hour and a_ half travelling. the six miles..to Lonsdale and 13th by bus - or; to be more accurate, by three buses. After that, .a. short two-block walk to the “hospital. During buses run at roughly 30- * minute intervals. So you just miss one at 25th and Marine in Dundarave and wait 235. miinutes for the next. At Park Royal, some 12 minutes down the road, you just n miss bus to "North Van. Add, say, a further 25-minute wait. - FROM PAGE A1 “But the worst time is after a light shower, when people think the hazard level has dropped and they’re not so careful. “In actual fact, a few showers. don't make the hazard rating drop that much.” Assistant ranger forestry’s Squamish office, Roger Siebert, was involved with the operation to ex- tinguish the Bowen fire and Says: “Unless someone stumbles on these-things while they’: re potential to really go.” Friday's fire at Bowen “illustrates how delicate the fire situation hazard is and how lack of forethought can start up a bush blaze. Taxis cost more than a buck a mile. What are we . talking about?’ al ‘The crosstown. service, introduced with | great fanfare a couple of years ago ‘as the ultimate link between the North Shore ~ com- munities, has. fortunate disadvantage: with the possible exception of Car Dealer Alley and the Park & Tilford Gardens it doesn't _ come within a dozen or more - blocks of any part of North Vancouver which the average West Vancouverite would ever wish to visit. WALK AS FAST? © As a result, after another 10 minutes down the road, it’s time for a second change at Capilano Mall and a further - possible 25-minute wait if you've just missed the Keith Road connection — which, in due course, will pevtnnn pes pie emi veee waterborne mooie PS me een aR ee mee aa AR Gr Pm cer pee ‘more. families are giving up that second car. One - third of West’ Vancouver's population is 60: or ... six blocks, ‘them need to visit Don’t wasté gasoline is the cry (who would want. one un-”.§ by ain Noel Wright “ ‘particilarly in the case of . regular trips. -CAR-LESS- GROWING © ‘West Van's a ‘senior citizens ‘deserve. something ‘better. ‘But so, equally, do all of us: on. the. North Shore, who share so many common municipality in which we _ happen to live. It’s a strange: - . irony that most North Shore residents without a car find it considerably easier to visit . downtown Vancouver by bus . ' than to visit their North Van or West Van neighbors. ':The car-less ne both voluntary and involuntary -- are growing in tiumbers all the time as running costs bite deeper and eventual gasoline shortages logm. Car-less .~ North Van . housewives “ mere.six miles. A fit person could walk them i in the same time. ~ 4 Many of West _ Van- couver’s large percentage of over-60's tire after walking let alone six miles. Quite a number of the -you_-six—or—seven- minutes later at Lonsdale and 13th. About 19 minutes actually travelling in buses. On bad days (which seem to come with monotonous regularity 9 up ‘to 75 minutes waiting at bus stops. And all this for a Stoeteore cou The fire started on moss covering rocks next to a house about two miles south of Snug Cove and Siebert says: “It was just about incredible that the house didn’t go up.” CARELESSNESS He says the fire started when someone lit a camp fire there and failed to scrape the moss off the rock first. The 20 members of the Bowen Island Volunteer Fire Department began tackling the blaze with portable fire pumps and hand tools. A Bird Dog aircraft was one et ally... small.-they--have—the. _used.to make. a.recognizancé “for forestry and the pilot assessed that the blaze was going to sweep right through an occupied house. loaded = with fire retardant, A plane chemical hospital __regularly—--for wishing to browse ..around - Park Royal and- car-less North Van-teens wishing to ‘sunbathe on Ambleside - Beach suffer from the idiotic . - bus situation just as much as their West Van counterparts. who like to shop the Lon- sdale stores and share the fun at the North Van Rec Centre. The—vaunted—crosstown treatment. Others want to visit, friends or loved ones- there. If you're frail or feeling unwell, 25-minute waits at bus stops are quite a trial, especially in winter. But if you're ving on a mode BO wo there and back “for ‘taxis is probably unthinkable -- worsen N. Shore fire hazards which was on its way to fight a fire at Campbell River, was diverted and dumped three loads of Phoscheck red dye on the one-acre blaze. Siebert says: “The house was right in the path of the fire and got scorched and it was very very lucky that it didn’t go up. Sunday brought another alarm on the island when fire broke out after someone discarded a cigarette butt beside the road. Five men using a pumper truck quickly put out the fire. Siebert says Bowen is a particularly, bad fire spot because it is, exposed to | -winds..which: dry it out ‘and whip up any fire which Starts. He says the entire Van- couver area is in good shape for forest fires compared to other areas of the province Saskatchewan Wheat Pool emissions OK'd by council. A request to increase emissions from the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, because of oxpanded facilities, has met with no opposition from North Vancouver City council. Although there will be a total increase of about five per cent, it was been pointed out that there will be an actual reduction in discharge from a number of points, and one of the filters will be moved from the housing side to the water side. Council was also informed that the Ridgeway Ratepayers Association had been in contact with the GVRD, and had not sub- mitted any objections to the new emission levels. After some discussion, in which council members commented favourably on the fact that emissions from several points would be lessened, council passed a motion to advise the GVRD Air Pollution Branch that they did not object to the application. interests irrespective of the “The word “town” in its. title is incomprehensible. As far as North Vancouver is concerned, it operate farther from “town”. - And even Park Royal hardly” -_ qualifies. as the “town” .of West Vancouver, 80. per cent of whose residents live _ west of Taylor Way. BETTER PAYING ~ ‘The -obvious’ and sorely ° needed solution _to the problem is a .true- “crosstown” bus route linking the central cores of West Van and North Van on a through, no-change.basis. It would run at 30-minute - intervals from Dundarave ~via Marine Drive in both” communities, branching: -off up West Keith Road in North Van to, the hospital, ‘then circlix g round via St. ‘George’s and 19th back to ,Lonsdale and 13th for the return run to Dundarave. My guess is that it would prove to bea better paying - -proposition from Day One than the present “crosstown” route -- for the simple reason - that it would be going where people want and need to go. . procedural arguments” ; “that: couldn't — transit experts ; particular, . may be advanced against the ‘ proposal. by the a erhaeeeiieen Renenremeieninaaetiaatienier ata mia lade ot ‘Dundarave to. mid- Lonsdale Pipe service | is two main Se pulation centres of the North Shore and, in ‘bringing: the~ area’s only hospital an hour -or more closer: to its: West “Van patients and visitors who have no car. COMMON ~— SENSE West Van's Blue Buses already run deep into downtown Vancouver. _Hydro buses already run into — Park Royal. From a common sense viewpoint it's difficult to see what practical problems there could be +- though I’m - ‘sure the bureaucrats may have a few uP theirsleeves. West Van Mayor. Derrick Humphreys, North Van ae Mayor-Jack Loucks and their. _ respective councils shouldn't miss the bus by listening too - closely to the bureacrats on this one. bus service -- hugging Marine Drive, Third Street, Cotton Road and Main, with a tedious detour at the SeaBus -- doesn’t even touch 90 per cent of North Van- nections have to be made with other bus routes. 5 but comments: “I wouldn't be surprised to see a complete fire ban before the long weekend.” North Vancouver District Fire Deputy Chief Ken Beisiegel says the situation has not yet become severe enough to close down trails in Lynn Canyon and other parks as happened last year, although he says: “If the weather continues hot it might happen but we , Who would operate it? The independent West Van. Blue Bus system? Or Hydro .(shortly to be taken over by the new Urban Transit Authority)? °, a ’ J ry Fu Ch léss, nor am I interested in all the - technical and ‘get a fair recovery at night with the dew.” He agrees with forestry about the rain situation’ “One rainfall wouldn't change anything at alt. It takes a lot of rain to do anything and it’s got to penetrate the duff on top to get below.” Forester Mudge says the fire hazard rating is almost at the point of being extreme gratitude of a significant percentage of their electors . by getting a Dundarave to mid-Lonsdale bus link into operation as fast as possible - - with their thumbs pressed anyone who tells them it can’t be done! ' but that the decision to close down parks such as Lynn Canyon and Lighthouse Park is largely political. “The effect to the tourist trade and the economy of the whole province is a matter which has to be considered (before a forest closure order) so it often comes in a little later than some of us would like,” he says. 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