e-princerupert.com

Prince Rupert Regional Information Site

May 19th

We See

Another look > BC Transit fees

Rupert visions water and land

 

View from hospital area town

 

Deficits Airport Ferry 915T and Transit 239T (2009)

The Problem

Council increased fees for both Ferry and City busses –A note in the 2009 Audit led me on search of Federal & BC funding sources

 

The Federal Government has committed to transfer gas tax revenue to local governments to support capital projects which will promote increased transit use and support service expansion.-- ---capture funding for transit projects that are eligible under the terms of the Public Transit Agreement funding.’
From a glitzy BC Transit brochure on 5 year plan

Public Funding for Transit

Like the Gas Tax refund to municipalities (see my previous with links) these $$ have to be used for acceptable projects --- one wonders about priorities: waterfront versus making Transit more available etc – rather than raising transit fees which will (I predict) drive down usage)--- (ridership decreased 5% after last increase)

 

See my previous for discussion above

Class politics?

While Rupert had one of the lowest bus fares and highest ridership in BC --- in the last planning document available on BC Transit web site – Rupert had the highest cost recovery of any municipality (see table below)

 

Need info like this to make informed discussions/ decisions

But don’t hold your breath --- Top Secret stuff

 

 

Glitzy Brochures etc on BC Transit Strategic Plan pages – with links – more later

While the BC Transit Public Relations look good – I see little useful information – presumably these are the meetings the Treasurer Dan Rodin attended and brought back the table of needed tax increases given above

 

 

Note the dandelions seeding and on pause during wet weather etc (see here for Season and links

Beautiful sunset Tuesday night

 

 

From Long-Term Wastewater Treatment Effectiveness of a Northern Wisconsin Peatland --Dale S. Nichols* and Dale A. Higgins

 

More later – especially on who pays (planning grant was ‘cost sharing’ from Province – which ‘pocket’ the matching grant $$ came from at SQCRD is still to be determined--- I bet Rupert paid most of it)

Update on using Peatlands for sewage treatment

I have previously argued that the SQCRD study from AECOM used dubious logic to get the desired result – thus most the papers cited etc deal with Wetlands and not specifically Peatlands (marshes etc can be extremely productive, while peatlands are so ‘inert’ that mummies centuries old often found etc) --- I followed up on Nichols and Higgins (2000) study where the runoff from sewage treatment actually put into a bog (paper cited in study --- and available online as PDF) –Note all the solids have been settled out and only the waste water being put into bog (Unlike project in Dodge Cove/ Oona River where apparently piped from secondary treatment – thus including solids?)

 

Even under these conditions the authors concluded: ‘Small peatlands such as this one seem poor, --candidates for use as tertiary treatment systems.

 

 

We See Many of the street planters are both ‘blooming’ and getting volunteer grooming

While some of these potted trees have leafed out as left – others have yet to show any leaves

 

 

Above is new grass seed from a recent city works project – amazing what some nutrients (fertilizer) will do

I hear the Community Garden will bring in a truck load of soil from Terrace to fill these boxes – the old ball field did not look too useful as garden soil

 

We’ll see

A local ‘hotel’ has done some yard work – all those concrete pillars are now sitting on City property – I bet they remain well into the future

 

 

So Seasonal

The falling of all those ornamental apple and cherry flowers with the recent rain – carpets the street with petals – and happens every year – for a few short days in late spring

Created by LG on 19/5/2010

Last updated on Wednesday, May 19, 2010