Fighting for Sunday bus service, Sally takes her petition to city hall

City staff has been directed to look into the possibility of bringing back 18 hours of Sunday bus service, in part thanks to a local waitress.

Sally Chateauneuf, who works as a waitress at Muio’s Restaurant, was affected when Sunday bus service was recently reduced to 12 hours from the previous 18 hours.

The reduction of service will result in at an estimated savings of $240,000 a year.

Chateauneuf found herself needing to take taxi cabs home on Sunday nights, when her shift ends after the last bus service.

“When I started paying theses cabs, it was a lot of money from my pocket,” said Chateauneuf.

Soon after, she approached Steve Butland, councillor for Ward 1, for help.

During tonight’s meeting of city council, Butland spoke about the petition Chateauneuf presented to him, as well as his suggestion she get testimonials from others affected.

Chateauneuf attended Pinos, Husky, Metro, RJ’s, Agero, convenience stores, restaurants, hotels, Tim Horton’s, North 82, A&W, Boston Pizza, Wendy’s and Wacky Wings for signed testimonials.

"She went to all of these places and the anecdotal reports she wrote down as she spoke to them — this is proof that indeed it has an impact on people who simply cannot afford to get to and from work without some kind of other arrangement,” said Butland.

The Ward 1 councillor shared in a small amount of the legwork. 

“I went to two places and determined indeed it impacts people getting to work and from work and scheduling for the owners and safety for the workers — people walking home at midnight on a Sunday night,” said Butland.

Chateauneuf said she knows of some workers who had to give up shifts or quit jobs altogether because they couldn’t afford to take cabs after hours on Sundays.

“If we quit our job, what is going to happen to us? What is going to happen to this city? We’re already losing jobs left and right. If we lose the little jobs that make the city, we’re going to be a welfare city. Do you want that?” said Chateauneuf.

Butland’s motion to instruct city staff to look into the petition and testimonials and report on the possibility of reconsidering or reworking the previous decision to reduce service ended up passing in open council.

Immediately prior to Butland’s motion, council considered city staff’s recommendation that $300,000 be taken from the city’s Transit Reserve Fund and applied as matched funding to the federal government’s Public Transit Infrastructure Fund (PTIF).

With $300,000 from the city and $300,000 in matched funding from the first phase of the PTIF, the city has identified five projects to apply for, at a total cost of $598,000.

The city was eligible to apply for up to $3,279,873 of matching funds

City CAO Albert Horsman said even with that much funding available, the city would have to come up with an equal amount.

“We’re being prudent in terms of what we do have available, which is $300,000 in the budget, trying to maximize what we are able to use that for to get something from the PTIF fund,” said Horsman.

The motion to accept staff’s recommendation to apply $300,000 to the PTIF passed, in effect leaving almost $3-million in federal funding on the table.

Earlier this year, council approved a $250,000 feasibility study into whether to replace or upgrade the aging bus barn.

 Don Scott, manager of transit and parking, said the feasibility study began before the start date of the PTIF funding and will not be completed until after the Oct. 18 application deadline. 

The results of the study are expected in March 2017, and any work that needs to be done may be eligible for a future phase of PTIF funding, said Scott.

One of the five projects earmarked for the PTIF funding is a review of conventional transit service, at $110,000.

Butland hopes that review will include some kind of relief for those struggling with the reduction of Sunday service.

“If we don’t support this in some way, we will have to support these people perhaps in another way — in social services, etcetera,” said Butland.

Chateauneuf knows it is an uphill battle trying to reinstate a full Sunday bus schedule given the Sault’s current economic climate, but is thankful for Butland’s efforts.

“I am just glad that he paid attention to me and he helped me through the process,” she said.