The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

'Low ridership threatens local bus service Fo oa Ir13 Service improvements,fare increases key tofuture of Milton Transit, according to draft strategic plan events go to analysis led him to believe that the plan is recom- mending a Milton Transit service that tries to do b° nuch, but nothing well enough for his liking. l an not ni favour of expanding this service and crossing our fingers and hoping people will come," he explained. He said he wants Milton Transit to first improve its service to its core customer base, which consists main- ly of weekday commuters, before worrying about serv- ice expansion. "For a guy schlepping his way to downtown Toronto, why can't be sec online real time bus informa- tion?" Scherer asked staff. "They (travellers) under- stand problems, they understand storms, they don't understand why they can't get information before they step outside." The Town's public meeting on the strategie plan will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8:30 p.m. with presentations at 2:30 and 7 p.m. Those unable to attend can review and comment on the plan onine at www.milton.ca until May 13. Council will debate a final report at its meeting May 25. Tim Foran can be reachedat tforanamilîoncanadian- champion.com. By Tim Foran CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF Milton Mayor Gord Krantz has warned the Milton Transit bus system could be eliminated if ridership docsn't increase enough to improve the cost recovery ratio of the system. "The cliché and I've been using it all along is, 'Use it or lose it,"' Krantz said at a recent community services committee meeting during discussion on the 2009-13 draft strategie plan for Milton Transit, which will be the subject of a public input session this Tuesday at the Milton Seniors' Activity Centre. The current cost recovery ratio for Milton Transit is about 20 per cent, but the draft plan foresees that increasing to 34 per cent by 2011. That increase could be realized through a variety of measures, including a fare increase following an initial period of service improvements including the introduc- tion of Saturday service, the plan states. For a one-time ticket, the proposed fare would only be increased 25 cents to $2.75, though the current price of 50 cents if the rider has a GO ticket would remain in place and childrenî under six years old woukl ontin to ride for free. However, the proposed fare hike would hit regular users who buy cheaper 10-ticket sheets or montbly passes the hardest. The proposed changes inclide: • For adults, increasing the cost of a sheet of 10 tickets to $23 from the current $20 and a monthly pass to $65 from the current $56. * For seniors, increasing the cost of a sheet of 10 tickets to $20 from the current $14 and a monthly pass to $50 from the current $38.50. * For students, increasing the cost of a sheet of 10 tickets to $20 from the current $16 and a monthly pas5 to $55 fron the current $45. Other ways to raise the cost-recovery ratio include realizing savings by moving to a single contractor, rid- ership increases due to better and more widely avail able service, and more stringent eligibility requirement for the accessible transit service, the plan states. Krantz said be's pleased that the report envisions cut in the per capita subsidy to $5.45 from the curren $10.70, as be believes it's necessary for the transit serv ice to start operating with less municipal funding. "There comes a time when we have to fish or cu bait and that goes for transit," Krantz said. Milton's current operating budget includes $1.7 mil lion for Milton transit, while four times that amount i spent on roads. The capital budget includes about a bal million for the transit service with $9.6 million fo roads. The capital budget for transit is minimal partiall due to the ineligibility for significant transit projects t be recouped through development charges. For exam ple, the developer of a single-family home in Milto pays just under $18,000 to the Region and the Town i roads and transportation charges, but only $34 t Milton Transit. Among the plans other draft recommendations is t increase service reliability by purchasing more spai buses for periods when the Town's four Bluebird bust are out of service, a problem that bas plagued ti municipal transit system since it acquired the buse The difficulty keeping those buses in service bas le some riders to give up on the service, though sorr have been returning as reliability has improved sin< last fall, according to the consultants who prepared tl· plan. Another recommendation is to combine existir routes 1 and 5 and add two routes to service new sul divisions, especially on Scott Boulevard in the residet tial community west of the CN tracks. Other existing routes could be modified so that buses run in the heart of residential communities on collector roads as opposed to plying some of the major arterial roads where there are no homes. Richard Pucini, a representative of Dillon Consulting Ltd., which prepared the strategie plan, said after the community services meeting be didn't expect an uproar fron Milton residents once buses start running along their roads. However, be said council might run into issues with residents who dont want a bus stop in front of their home. "I'm prepared to deal with that," Ward 4 Councillor Paul Scherer told the Champion, though he noted the proposed routes are not set in stone. "If you're going to upset the odd one (resident), so be it. The number one acid test is, are you doing the right thing overall?" Scherer, along with some other councillors, expressed concern that staff presented them with the 184-page draft plan only a few days before the com- munity services meeting. However, he said his initial THIS IS AN IMPORTANT REMINDER that if you were involved in an adoption in Ontario, your information and privacy rights are changing. Effective June 1, 2009, Ontario adoption records will be opened. This means adopted adults and birth parents will be given access to identifying information from birth records and adoption orders. If the adoption order was made before September 1, 2008, adopted adults and birth parents can file a disclosure veto to prevent the release of the information. If you want your identifying information kept private, you should file a disclosure veto before June 1, 2009. No contact notices are also available. To learn more about your rights to information and privacy regarding adoption, visit www.ontario.ca/adoptioninfo or call 1-800-461-2156 (TTY 416-325-3408). Paid for by the Government of Ontario. Ontario ugiU) a4s ndfton £lf