EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Candidates cite work and water as key projects Page 3
Eagles back in regular hockey season action Page 7
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 PM40008236
Vol. 57 No. 38 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Walking the walk: Volunteers, participants, residents of Bastion Place and members of the Sicamous Eagles hockey team take part in the annual Superwalk For Parkinsons held Saturday morning at McGuire Lake in Salmon Arm. Photo by James Murray
CSRD report outlines options for public transportation Feasibility: Sicamous mayor questions whether residents would favour costly busing system. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
A transportation report completed through the regional district will be making its way to Sicamous council for deliberation. The report, presented recently to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District board, represents the findings of a feasibility study by BC Transit, which looked at providing public transit between Sicamous, Malakwa, Seansea Point and Salmon Arm. The report includes five options, which range from contracting the service through a third party based in Sicamous or Salmon Arm, to the provision of a midday service, one day a
week between Sicamous and Salmon Arm, as well as a weekday service. A supplementary option ties It would have to Malakwa into the onesubsidized heavily by day-a-week option. It is taxpayer, by the people estimated this would cost say I wouldn’t use it… local taxpayers $31,200, with the province picking Darrell Trouton up $34,600 of the total Mayor cost. The one-day service between Sicamous and Salmon Arm would cost ton notes the options are very local taxpayers $29,200. The costly, and council will have to weekday service, which would look at the practicality of payprovide two one-way trips Mon- ing for the service and whether day through Friday, would cost enough residents would actually $106,000, $47,000 of which use it. would be funded through local “Of course we all would like taxation. to have it, but would you actually Sicamous Mayor Darrell Trou- use it? And that’s the question,”
says Trouton. “It would be nice for some people to be able to use it. But are you speaking for othbe ers or are you speaking the for yourself? Most people that are fighting for others. If you ask them, personally, will you use it, most people say, ‘I wouldn’t use it, but I know somebody else that would.’ And you know, that seems to be the consensus.” The report’s findings were influenced by public input received through a survey released online and through the Eagle Valley Community Resource Centre. A total of 242 were submitted, with 191 respondents from Sicamous,
38 from Malakwa and 13 from Swansea Point. The report notes that while the survey provides helpful information, “the distribution method does not result in statistically valid outcomes and likely over-represents the ‘protransit’ segment of the population.” As for the public’s willingness to fund a transit service, 84 per cent of survey respondents supported some level of property tax increase, with 47 per cent suggesting a small increase up to $24. Trouton notes public transportation tends to be heavily subsidized by the province and the taxpayer. See Open house on page 2