Question 1:
What role can transit play in reducing traffic congestion and mitigating increasing expenditures on road maintenance?
Transit can play an absolutely critical role in reducing traffic congestion, we just have to find ways to incentivise it over the comfort, convenience and safety of personal vehicles. With traffic congestion the way it is, any additional member on public transit is one less vehicle on the road, one less idling car waiting at the lights, and one less stressor on roadways. I also believe better syncing and timing of the lights through Burlington’s 4 main north- south roadways would increase public transit time reliability towards the downtown corridor. If we all as drivers saw the bus safely get to our mutual places of interests at the same time as ourselves, minus having to park and the rising cost of gas, it becomes a no brainer. Less vehicles on the road means less need for maintenance and expansion of roadways. Now we have more money for other programs such as upgrading public transit options or reducing the need for property tax increases.
Question 2:
In your opinion, what can be done to improve specialized transit for disabled riders and would you be in favour of raising the budget for this increasingly important service?
I was at a candidate meet and greet a couple of weeks ago and I was speaking to a woman that is unfortunately confined to a wheelchair as her means of mobility. She mentioned to me why were both sides of the Walkers Line sidewalks both torn up for construction at the same time? I had no answer and all i could think about was either the amount of extra time required for using a detoured route through the neighbourhoods, or spending her own personal income on private taxi services. I think first and foremost the first thing that needs to be done would be to meet with local leaders and groups such as yourself as there are so many people in our community with different needs that any plan I do have, I’m sure I’ll be missing someone like that woman I met regarding the Walkers Line fiasco. Besides simply saying more funding needed (which it is) I’d like to see if there are some commonalities we can help address such as are there similar destination points that most or all riders have regardless of disability? I just want to make sure we can better cater to the needs of some of our most vulnerable in the community who can’t or aren’t able to speak up. I can see clearly people falling through the cracks, it’s important we partner as councillors to action groups such as yourself and the affected parties to prevent it from happening again.
Question 3:
Burlington’s and Halton’s Official Plans call for transit’s share of all trips to rise to 20% (from the current figure of about 4%) by 2031. Do you support this objective?
Going back to incentivising people to use public transit, I don’t know how raising prices like this is going to help. We know the cost of living has gone up and some buses have no one in them, I just don’t see how this is going to get people to use something other than a car. Having said all that, what about the riders that DO rely on the bus? Why are we penalizing some of our less affluent and most vulnerable community members and workers who rely on public transportation as a means to provide and retain mobility? I know there are budget increases but there has to be a better way, again if more people ride public transit, revenues would naturally be coming into the city and regions coffers. Raising prices will simply hurt the people that do require transit
Question 4:
With record ridership and increasing demand, are you in favour of supporting continued expansion of Burlington’s transit system?
Sure, again it’s about finding ways to get people to think about alternative modes of transportation. It eases traffic congestion, road maintenance costs, easier on the environment etc. There are many positives to the idea of public transit. Continued expansion to me is ensuring the safety of riders as well as the availability and accessibility for all riders to be able to partake in using public transit. We can keep the momentum of record ridership by not doing a drastic raise of 4% to 20% while still generating the revenue required to fund these expansions
Question 5:
Have you ever used Burlington Transit? Would you be willing to give it a try?
Of course I have! When you live here for over 30 years you use Burlington transit for different needs at different points in your life (especially when you’re too young to drive and you want to go to the mall) I’ve taken it to go to the Sound of Music with friends to head down town or if i had to get to a drs appointment and my car was in the shop. I also think the most important thing as a councillor would be to actually use public transit to get to City Hall from work. We should be showing all of Burlington that public transit is great, cheap and convenient to use.We get to live and work in the same city we live in, why aren’t we showing off this great system? I’m also willing to bet that all of us councillors DID use public transit to get to and from work, that we’d be able to solve the public transit issues in about 5 weeks of using it.
Question 6:
The Ontario Legislature recently passed Bill 98, the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, 2026, which gives the provincial Minister of Transportation the power to override municipal transit authorities and set routes and fares for municipal transit systems. We at BFAST have the following concerns about this legislation:
1) It could disrupt current arrangements between transit systems in Burlington, Oakville and Hamilton that provide connections between these cities.
2) The Minister could divert Burlington Transit resources — for example, to provide service along the planned bus rapid transit corridor on Highway 5 (Dundas St.), which was supposed to have been undertaken by GO Transit. This would, in effect, download more fiscal responsibility from the province to local governments.
3) Certain initiatives by Burlington Transit, such as free fares for seniors and students, could be eliminated.
Please comment on this legislation and what measures you would undertake or support to ensure transit service levels in Burlington would not be degraded.
This seems to be another move by the current provincial administration to slowly erode and strip city and regional powers, while consolidating it back to the province. This absolutely by-passes the actual needs and wants of the community while forcibly trying to sever the relationship the city has with our community – as to your point free fares for seniors and students – citizens that essentially generate 0 income. There are people that we as a community all agree shouldn’t have to pay for the bus, that was our agreement we all did here together. I detest the idea about what this could bring.
I would speak with the Chief Administrative Officer and work with the legal counsel to see what legal avenues we have to fight the legitimacy of this legislation. I believe judicial review is required as there are now clear cut actions done by this government to erode residents and the city’s powers in guiding their own path forward on their terms. We have agreements for the betterment of our own community, we don’t need big brother overseeing everything thing we do in all aspects of our lives
Question 7:
Over the past months, a plan has been promoted wherein a private company would provide on-demand transit service to potentially replace certain routes operated by Burlington Transit. Among BFAST’s concerns with this plan are:
1) Over-reliance on one private company to provide a service that could not be easily replaced if the provider were to fail.
2) Cost escalation and more traffic on our roads as mini-buses replaced current vehicles and more drivers were needed to move the same number of passengers.
3) Diversion of already-constrained Burlington Transit budget to a private, for-profit company, resulting in lower levels of service.
We would appreciate your comments on on-demand transit in general and the idea of diverting public budgets to private corporations.
It’s always a slippery slope and history shows that a private company comes in and “disrupts” the current market. Market becoming more competitive does lead to short term better quality, but then the over reliance on what private company means no more competition and rates skyrocket. Perfect example is look at what happened here when Uber took over and taxis became a thing of the past for most. Now that one or two companies can corner the market all these hidden fees and rate hikes happen. Streaming services we’re cheaper, better and offered more until we all got onto their system and now you can’t escape ads while paying more. Regardless of industry, over reliance on private companies give them the power they need to raise prices, lower quality of service and variety and force a subservience as there’s no loner a viable alternative anymore. Eventually these private businesses always have an insatiable need for more money.
If private business brought better, more efficient and streamlines services while providing relief for the city, I’d like to see why the city wouldn’t or couldn’t implement it ourselves. There is enough public demand that public transit i think can still be improved upon and generate revenue for the city while still maintaining it’s use as a free necessity for certain groups of our population as you pointed out earlier.