SBNH PUTTING CAR RALLY INTO GEAR
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TRADING SOCIOLOGY FOR SOCKET SETS
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PREMIER’S TOP MAN CALLS IT QUITS
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WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 26 2012 www.burnabynewsleader.com
Residents concerned about the impacts of an expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline want reliable facts, and assurances about safety, says Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson. See Page A10
City group to visit 11 cities in Asia MLA Corrigan pays own way, as mayor’s wife Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Tina Poole says the community shuttle buses that service the Production Way and Holdom SkyTrain stations on weekends and holidays are inadequate, so she’s organized a petition for the return of full-size buses.
Petition calls for bigger buses Woman claims switch to community shuttles has caused long waits, accessibility issues Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
A Burnaby resident is petitioning TransLink to reverse a decision she says has led to long waits and accessibility issues on two local bus routes. On Sept. 3, the No. 134 and 136 routes that provide service between Brentwood and Lougheed malls
switched to using community shuttles on weekends and holidays instead of the full-sized buses used the rest of the week. Tina Poole, 28, said that’s created an overcrowding issue, with about a dozen people passed up by the full shuttle at Holdom Station at 4:30 p.m. on a recent Saturday. With the route only seeing one bus per half hour on weekends, that can lead to a long wait for the next one, said Poole, a student at Simon Fraser University. While not currently an issue
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during the NHL lockout, she is concerned about the shuttles’ ability to eventually handle crowds of people heading to and from Canucks games. The smaller shuttles are also less accessible, with room only for one wheelchair or one stroller, but not both, at any one time, she said, and they don’t kneel like many full-sized buses do and have more stairs. Poole said she recently watched a driver spend 10 minutes loading a person in a wheelchair onto the shuttle.
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It’s a particular concern, she said, because the routes serve neighbourhoods with many seniors and young families. “I think it’s unjust that people should have to choose the times they go out. You shouldn’t have to worry about missing a bus.” With “very low” ridership, the weekend service needed to be adjusted due to budget considerations, responded TransLink spokesperson Drew Snider by email.
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A City of Burnaby delegation is currently on an 11-day visit to sister and friendship cities in China and Taiwan. And while Burnaby council approved $30,900 in city funding to cover the costs of the trip for Mayor Derek Corrigan and three councillors, Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA Kathy Corrigan will pay her own way. “I’m paying my own way so I’m not there as a representative of government,” said Kathy. “I simply applied for a leave within my own [New Democrat] caucus.” She stressed the importance of such trade missions in paving the way for improved business relationships. A representative of a major manufacturing plant in B.C. with customers in China, who she declined to name, told her recently that when in that country, “it’s much easier—in fact necessary—to have governmentto-government relationships to accompany or predate the business-tobusiness relationship,” she said. see MY PRIMARY, A3