PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1982, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher- Managing Editor 'Ihe only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Published every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.o Box 206, Whitby, Ont. MICHAEL J. KNELL Communlty Editor MARJORIE A. BURGESS Advertising Manager Malling Permit No. 460 Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 Excellent report could lead to bus service improvement Many of our readers may complain that we're beginning to sound like a broken record. But, we've always supported the bus service and will continue to support it despite opposition. Last week, WhItby public works director Dick Kuwahara submitted his long awaited report on the Whitby Transit Service and quite frankly, it "warmed the cockles of our heart." Not only will the bus service be continued after the current contract with Charterways Limited ex- pires in June, 1983, but the service will be im- proved and, hopefully, expanded. Kuwahara submitted eight recommendations to Whitby Town Council's operations committee - all of which were designed to make the service better not only in terms of efficiency, but In usage as well. The director's first recommendation calls for the service to become a permanent part of the town's operations, "subject to a favourable vote by the electors." While we have been led to understand that there are some legal niceties to be ironed out by town staff this strikes us as a top-notch suggestion. If council gives its approval (and it was expect- ed to do so at its meeting Monday night), the town wlll also examine'the benefits to be had by owning the buses lnstead of the current leasing arrange- ment made with Charterways, who, by the way, have done an excellent Job in getting this much needed service off the ground. Kuwahara also recommended that council "not endorse the proposai to bring back the school bus system and especially not just for some areas of the municipality." We agree wholeheartedly with the director that "there is no justification for this and it would only be fair to treat all areas the same." This publication has long advocated that the service be extended to 11 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays so, of course, we are in complete agreement here. The benefits of the extension to both Whitby residents and merchants are more than obvlous. While council will give some consideration to the erection of some 10 bus shelters during the upcoming budget discussions, Kuwahara has said that caution should be exercised in talking about building a new bus terminal. We applaud this suggestion. A new bus ter- minal would be an excellent project to undertake, but it would be wise to have a facility at which not only local buses would meet, but where travellers could board other bus services such as GO Transit and Voyageur. If the co-operation of these two agencies could be obtained the time would be right to go ahead. Kuwahara also said that our bus service should not provide service to the Oshawa Shopping Cen- tre "at this time." In fact, we would go one step further and say that such a service should not be introduced. However, we would support moves taken to link-up the Whitby system with the systems to be found in both Oshawa and Ajax. The service, he added, should also be promoted through an advertising campaign. This is also a good suggestion because the more people that use the buses, the better off we wllI all be. It was interesting to note that of ail the letters and petitions received by the Town of Whitby, only one demanded that the. service be cut back or cancel led. That request came from the Corridor Area Rate- payers Association who have been fighting the system since it was first introduced so that they could get the school bus system back for their high-school aged children. (This would be at the expense of all Durham taxpayers and would benefit only the residents of the Corridor area.) The other petitions received have called for the Introduction of weekend and evening service as well as for the construction of the bus terminal that was mentioned earlier. On the whole, Kuwahara's report is a very positive document and gives the members of council the tool to make the service better. The buses are also becoming accepted by the residents of the town. "The ridership is increasing as was noted in the latest passenger count and there appears to be a general acceptance of the service although it does not satisfy the needs of ail of the people," Kuwahara said. However, he points out that the ridership has increased by 23.8 per cent over January, 1981 and this is good news, indeed. As the town grows, as it surely will, the demand for public transportation will increase. One only has to look at proposed developments for Port Whitby and the Rossiand Road area to see that the population of the town wili grow by the thousands in the coming years. One thing that is going to help the town grow is the bus system and it is beginning to look like the decision to introduce it was made at the right time and in the right way. The Town of Whitby that we have been weaning for so long is finally beginning tà grow up. When James Richardson was Minister of Defence, eight years ago, I did a half-hour documentary film on the state of equipment and morale in our armed forces that was as depressing as it was heartening. By that I mean that the equipment was in a shocking state, but that the morale and quality of the people in our armed forces was astonish- ingly high. In 1973, they were still using the trucks that had been purchased for the Korean war. The ancient Ar- gus aircraft, which weren't replaced until recently, were still doing touch-and-goes at Greenwood -- an exercise that even then was becoming hazardous. The interceptor squadrons were ancient, and some of the ships we were running belonged in Maritime museums. At that time, our sea forces still included a clyde-built World War Il des- troyer that I had served in as a reservist in the early 50's. Nothing much has changed since I made that film. The older pieces of equipment have gone out of service, but there has been no major infusion of defense spending to make up for 20 years of saving money at the expense of the armed forces. The defense budget was beefed up recently, but only enough to satisfy our commitments to increasing- ly impatient allies in NATO. We are replacing the Argus, and we have bought the new F-18 interceptors and some other hardware. But while this has been going on, the navy has been quietly falling to pieces. Not long ago, a routine inspection uncovered cracks in the boiler heads of two Canadian destroyers. Another inspection uncovered boiler cracks on two other ships. If they had blown while the ships were at sea, engine room personnel would have been scalded to death. Last year, during NATO exercises, a six foot crack opened in the deck of the Fraser, and she limped cautiously back to port. In 1963, when the subject of replacing these St. Laurent class antiques was first rais- ed, the cost of six replacements would have been 300 mill- ion dollars. Today the price tag would be closer to two bill- ion. And given the governments efforts to reduce the defi- cit, the danger is that they will never be replacéd. If we cannot protect our coastlines on three oceans, surely our primary line of defense, the time has come to fish or cut bait. Either eliminate the armed forces entirely, and rely on horseshoes instead, or give them the money to do the job properly and safely. There aren't any other choioes and we're running out of time. That's not news but that too is reality. i q bA0-È?Z-eZ1jF?