Public transit was back on my mind this week when, recently, a new warehouse and automobile repair facility were proposed in a remote corner of our city.
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The proposed area has little surrounding it, let alone many places where potential workers may live.
When a large warehouse of the same type opened up in Ottawa, roughly 150 individuals were hired to operate the store. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, an employee would work part-time and make $1,600 a month.
A single person making that, considering cost of living, probably doesn’t own a vehicle. I know plenty of individuals in Lloyd who are single-vehicle or no-vehicle families and walk or carpool to work with others.
Would a bus not make sense to transport the required workforce, customers, etc., to the relatively remote location?
There are few options for people living near Lloyd Mall who want to participate in possible savings or employment at this location without a vehicle.
According to Google Maps, it’s approximately six kilometres, one way, from there to the proposed location. It would cost roughly $15 for a cab, again, one way. If you must take a cab, any savings you may have found vanish. Don’t even start on if you had to work there.
Yes, I realize that $30 a day to go to work happens in the community, but should it?
Even a basic transit loop, nothing extraordinary, would accomplish so much in this community. A $100-a-month public transit pass would allow more money to be dumped into the local economy.
Most places where these facilities pop up already have a public transportation system. In areas where they don’t, it acknowledges the city’s potential to grow. Growth means fairness for all is the ability to get around.
Yes, there is a cost to build and run it, but if companies are willing to build so far from the city centre. Why not make it as easy as possible for them to succeed?
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