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l 51 v tii s- j vkvjj 1 3vjt 1 8 5i2 v ip r- s a efibeisxontah6 york region 2wv m s jiyolunieer support is essential for all our programsand services there are many vvaysthit you can i ijri a oep us help organizing selfhelp avidessufengrrandvibucdispiaysdistributing- m 1- f f- t a literature serving oh committeest etc j l f information about bur many vblimtimr opportunities can- 905 5085404 email address epilepsy aracnetnet this message brought to you as a community service of the economisttribune keqion i on transit by patrick casey staff writer york region taxpayers will foot the bill for a29000 survey on the merits of a regional transit system even though the ser- vice should b running early next year environics research groupwill poll 1000 residents askirjg them to discuss their views on transit coordination spending priorities transit service levels and future expectations on thursday markham regional councillor frank scarpitti questioned his colleagues on their decision to approve the survey calling the expense a disappointment- especially since previous studies have already demonstrated the need for improved bus service- you are trying to show the public does support a regional integratedjystembut the public is way out ahead of all of us stressed scarpitti tifitwasup to would have done it a long tinreago how much informa tion do people need before they feel satisfied that we do have the support of the peopleunfortunately we are going to have to spend another 29000 to indi cate one more time that people are supportive of the system i hope this type of information is thelast jreport we have todo expected to befinalized by january 2001 the york transit commission would pbolthe existing bus ser- ivices v of newmarket aurora richmond hill markhani and vaughan into a seamless schedule across the region politicians from regional municipalities have yet to grant final consent for theplan whttvthe provincial government remains a critical hurdle since new legislation must be passed this spring to authorize the new agency 4 the enyironics survey to be completed by the end of may will take aboufeight minutes for respondents to complete and- include between 10 and 20 questions t 17 with f000 telephonerespoiises the survey has a statistical reliability of plus or minus 32 per cent19 times out of 20 newmarket councillor diane humeniuk whois chairper isqn of the ytc took exception to scarpittis comments stating previous surveys ajreputdated and fresh ideas are needed v jusranexerciseinpublic acceptanck the demographics j have changed and we hadapercent 1 increase in population laslyear over the yearbefore coun tered humeniuk- r we kaye to look at views service levels pattern of usage travel time costs and reliability its important for people to provide us with their views certainly the intention of this exer cise is not to hasliover the old information i with mqrethan 400000 riewresiderits expected to call york region homewthih thvnext 20 years transportation gridlock has already become the most critical issue for taxpayers v vjhoweverthe region owns the worst record across the gta fofpublictransit usvwith a meagre ridefship of just5 pier ceht v js f scarpitti saidmafkham discovered a method to make tran sit competitive withthe automobile by establishing express buses that scoot commuters across hwy 7 allowing them to reach the finch subway station in quick fashion v i j- and when hwy 407 opened scarpitti said bus ridership soared 50 per cent meanwhilemarkham regional councillor gord landon accused the regions smaller municipalities of attempting to derail the regional transit scheme and stressed the need for the public to become more involved in the process v we get thepublicdut to the public sessions to show them tiiat this is impotant he said arid if theres dis- vcoiirse amongst the municipalitiesahd we clont get an agree- frank scarpitti markham councillor says a 1 study jsnt neces- sary because council knowsthv public supports integrated transit wtriiwvv 11