GUELPH POLITICAST #154 – The Transit Pass with TAAG

It was quite a year for transit issues. An election year, actually. It seemed like, for once, people at City Hall were actually listening, and that transit users were being heard about all the issues, and the ongoing problems. So did we accomplish anything, and what's coming up now in the new year? That's why TAAG is here!

The Transit Action Alliance of Guelph, or TAAG, is teaming up with Guelph Politico for this semi-regular new series of podcasts about transit issues. TAAG was formed this past summer with the intention of creating a collective voice of advocacy for more, better, and accessible transit. Hopefully, the "Transit Pass" edition of the Politicast will be a way to keep transit issues front of mind.

Looking back at the year that was in transit, we dealt with the start of the Transit Service Review, on which all hopes for solving transits issues has been placed. There was the changes to the schedules for a couple of bus routes that prompted a blowback from people that use route #3. There was also "Paper-gate," the controversy over the City pulling paper schedules from bus stops and then having to put them back following the uproar. Also, the Transit Manager quit almost a year ago, and he's yet to be replaced!

Looking ahead, that Service Review is coming back later this month, what will it tells us, and will it tell us anything we don't already know? Will there be any new money for Transit in the upcoming budget deliberations? Will our leaders lose focus on transit issues now that the municipal election is behind us? And can we expect any real progress on creating more regional transit options?

TAAG Chair Steve Petric, Treasurer Barbara Sim, Membership Co-ordinator John Marchese, and Steering Committee Member Mara Bender all join us for this inaugural Transit Pass to get some insight on those questions and the long bus ride ahead.

So let's talk about the year in transit, not to mention the immediate future of transit, on this edition of the Guelph Politicast!

You can learn more about TAAG by clicking here. The Transit Service Review will be released sometime around mid-January, and the special council meeting on the report will take place at 6 pm on January 29.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.

Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday’s episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.