WHERE TIRES ARE A SPECIALTY, NOT A SIDELINE. Farm - Auto - Truck - Industrial - Lawn & Garden - On The Farm Service Vol 23 | Issue 30 35 Howard Ave., ELMIRA, ON | 519-669-3232
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Preparing to be on the run for regional cancer centre People. Places. Pictures. Profiles. Perspectives.
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CFIB estimates companies are seeing only a quarter of their regular income
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
A LT E R N AT I V E S
Will Towns, principal planner for transit development, is looking into a on-demand transit option for Breslau. [DAMON MACLEAN]
BY SEAN HEEGER sheeger@woolwichobserver.com
For six months now businesses have had to endure a rollercoaster of turmoil thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. From shutting down and finding new ways to serve customers, to implementing new and costly safety measures – all the while still limiting the number of customers and hours of operation – the struggles have been many. The majority of businesses have been able to open – with major and often noticeable changes in place – but there are still some which have yet to get the green light from the province. Concert venues, amusement parks and the like are those still on the shelf. To a lesser degree, even those in the hospitality industry are experiencing difficulties as they are mandated to maintain social distancing measures that limit the number of customers, sometimes to the point of challenging viability. Ryan Mallough, director of provincial affairs for Ontario with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), says many businesses are struggling to generate the revenue they’d normally see. BUSINESS | 04
Region seeks to extend transit to Breslau GRT looking for public input about proposal for an on-demand transit pilot project for the village BY DAMON MACLEAN dmaclean@woolwichobserver.com
Exploring transit options for Breslau, the Region of Waterloo wants input from the public ahead of launching a pilot project in the village. Rather than a conventional bus service, Grand River Transit (GRT) is contemplating what it calls an on-demand service, in which there is no fixed route, rides are shared and levels of vehicle supply are matched to demand. Riders will be able to book a vehicle to pick them up through the use of a phone application,
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for instance. That avoids having a large bus running largely empty through a regular route, particularly in a location like Breslau where usage would be light. GRT has been working with Metrolinx, the provincial agency delivering GO Transit services, since last year in developing the on-demand pilot project. “We’re looking to hear from those who live and work in Breslau, as well as those interested in travelling to and from Breslau. Your responses will help the Region of Waterloo and Metrolinx design an on-demand transit
pilot service for this area,” says the regional website outlining the survey. “We’re looking for people to fill out a survey which asks about a whole variety of things pertaining to travel, and things that they would like to see in the context of the project that we’re planning. It’s a pilot project, to try to bring some sort of on demand transit to Breslau,” said Will Towns, the region’s principal planner for transit development, in an interview. Some of the survey questions focus on people’s familiarity with on-demand transit, specifically.
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More general questions inquire about where people intend to travel and areas or other transit forms, they wish to connect tolike Metrolinx’s GO station in Kitchener. (A park-and-ride GO station is planned for Breslau, as well.) The project is to be the region’s first fully on-demand transit system. When launching pilot projects in the past, the region has offered select routes with occasional stops that were request-only; in Breslau, it would be on-demand only. Given that the survey is being
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