4- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 25, 2006 Mayoral candidates respond to roads, transit question During the 2006 municipal election The Oakville Beaver is posing questions to the mayoral candidates on a weekly basis. This week, on pages 4 and 5, the candidates respond to the question: Many people question why we spend millions of taxpayers' dollars on public transit when our roads are a mess. Others wonder why we encourage people to drive their cars by spending money on road improvements instead of investing more money on public transportation. Which should be given a higher priority road improvements or public transportation? Rob Burton We need more transit, parking and roads. Our transportation system must catch up to our reckless growth. The new head of Oakville Transit reports Oakville is years behind in transit facilities, staffing and services: We lack objective service standards. We rank last among Rob Burton cities in transit services for seniors and others less abled. Accessibility laws require $220,000 more a year. Costs for overdue maintenance facilities are $44 million. More transit spending is needed to meet projected growth targets for North Oakville. Council increased those targets and they should be cut until infrastructure catches up to current population. Oakville is still falling behind: the Transportation Master Plan is two years late. Staff are saying we need new funding mechanisms. And $5 million from the gas tax is unallocated. I'll end Oakville's voluntary discounts to developers to recover most of the costs of growth. Transportation planning must consider whole trips, not just parts. Thirty-minute off-peak GO trains alone won't achieve anything until residents can easily get there and have enough parking. I'll increase GO parking and transit links. Let's recognize how we really live. Planners' pipe dreams about "live-work" will not solve gridlock for most Oakville families. And Council chose to make traffic worse when it voted to reduce employment lands and increase residential. I'll rebalance land use. I'll end undersizing of transit, parking and roads. Let's spend our taxes on our own needs. Let's stop falling continuously behind. If I'm mayor, the excuses and dithering will end and results will begin. Janice Wright This is one of those cases where balance comes into play. Roads or transit is not an either/or situation. We must invest in both maintenance and new roads at the same time as we build public transit infrastructure. Janice Wright While we encourage residents to use transit, we simultaneously need to maintain our roads in order to extend the life of our buses. People understand what damage poorly maintained roads do to their vehicles and the same goes not only for our buses but also our police, fire, ambulance, Town and Region fleets. Putting more buses on already congested roads doesn't make transit any friendlier. Even with more transit, the number of vehicles on our roads will continue to grow. So we need to build roads. Our investment in transportation has to be strategic. There is no point in adding buses unless there is a specific need. There are times where the need for 15 minute service is clear, and there are times when it is not required. Travel patterns have changed, and we need to adapt our systems for the GO commuter traveling west, just as we adapted our system for the eastbound commuter. We need to build roads to handle the increase in vehicles, but at the same time, encourage car pooling with things like HOV lanes. As mayor, we will work with the GTTA to ensure that rapid transit infrastructure is built to support the changing work related travel of Oakville residents. Ann Mulvale Oakville will need to meet the demand for local transportation while maintaining the inter-urban roads that underpin our economy. I'll ask Rob MacIsaac, the new GTA Transit Authority Co-Chair, to collaborate with us to improve frequency to Oakville, including 30 minute off-peak service. We must complement bus routes radiating from GO stations with timely services that move people efficiently in all directions. Better service equals more riders. By collaborating with employers to offer transit passes as non-taxable employee benefits, providing bike racks on buses, and creating shorter walks to stops, we can build rider-ship. I'll introduce incentives encouraging transit use, cycling and walking and ensure quality local service for seniors, people with disabilities, and teenagers. Oakville's investment in hybrid service vehicles must also encompass buses. Meanwhile roads must remain a priority. Widening Third and Fourth Lines improved capacity, enabling buses to convey riders more quickly to Bronte GO station and relieving Trafalgar Road congestion. I'll work with staff to generate capital budget forecasts that ensure timely construction, maintenance and lifecycle replacement of infrastructure, while negotiating additional collaborative federal and provincial Ann Mulvale WE TEAR DOWN OLD BRICKS AND INSTALL CAST-STONE FIREPLACE MANTELS investments. My advocacy on AMO and FCC already helped Oakville obtain over $11.7 million in Gas Tax rebates, plus $961,000 for transit coming over the next five years. I anticipate using these funds to make transit investments that help reduce gridlock and harmful emissions. I'll also support an Official Plan renewal that reinforces buffers between highways and residential neighbourhoods and encourages green industries to locate here, providing live-work opportunities. For Chris Stoate, see page 5. Daniela Giecewicz did not submit a response.