Testimony at the Port Authority Hearing 2/29 (I)

Several community leaders, ACTC members, public transit advocates, activits and many ordinary citizens had braved the bad weather last Wednesday 2/29 and came to testify in front of the Port Authorty Board. Some spoke about their transit needs, but most addressed the needs of their communities and the needs of the whole urban region.

Because we feel there is a need for a broader audience to hear the point of views expressed at the hearing we will try to publish a few testimonies as well as links to the articles covering the hearing.


We shall start with an excerpt from our vice-president's speech , Stu Strickland :

"Honorable members of the Board, and Mr. Bland, good afternoon, I am Stuart Strickland, from McCandless Township, a regular rider of the O12 McKnight Flyer, 12 McKnight and soon to be cut 2 Mount Royal bus routes. I already lost my Perry Highway routes in the 2011 service cuts and so walk most of a mile each way to get a bus every day.

As every properly informed person in the room knows, PAT didn’t cause this problem, state government did, through its persistent refusal to accept that public transportation does require tax subsidy to run properly. As every properly informed politician knows, spending money on public transit actually earns money for the state in allowing the wheels of commerce to turn efficiently in the denser urban areas that generate most of the state’s revenues. But the misinformed and willfully ignorant are in power at the moment, so here we are."

... read more on his blog Anything but the Car.