From The Toronto Star:

Via Rail expects to cut 200 unionized jobs, or about nine per cent of its workforce, as the government-owned passenger rail service reduces trips on lines across the country.

No routes are being eliminated, and some in the busy Montreal-Toronto corridor will be increased. But by the end of October, routes in most other areas will see less-frequent service.

“We are aligning our services with customer needs and consolidating our resources where there is a demand,” Via president and CEO Marc Laliberte said Wednesday.

Trip frequencies are being cut on some of big routes, including the Montreal to Halifax line — “The Ocean” — which will be cut to three from six round trips a week.

In the West, “The Canadian” — Via’s only Toronto to Vancouver route — will be reduced to two from three round trips a week in the off-season (October to April). Service during peak season will remain at three trips weekly.

There will also be a number reductions in southwestern Ontario, where GO Transit and other services are available to commuters. London, Aldershot, Kitchener, Niagara Falls and other cities will see reduced Via service.

The cuts come after the federal government’s March budget which cut $41 million in subsidies to Via over three years, but the company insists the trip reductions and job losses are driven by weak off-season demand.

Ridership on “The Ocean” has dropped by 50 per cent over the last 15 years, the company said, and ridership on “The Canadian” in winter months has been dropping steadily. Services in southwestern Ontario have seen competition from commuter rail and other modes of transit.

But Jennifer Brown, president of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 4005, said demand is up by 7.8 per cent since last year and by nearly 25 per cent in the peak season.

“So where they’re getting their numbers we don’t know. I work on board and from January my trains have been sold out,” she said.

Brown, who works on trains between Halifax and Montreal one day a week, expects to be laid off this fall.

She also questions Via’s marketing efforts to attract more passengers. “We don’t see any marketing down here in the East to get more people out to travel by train,” she said in an interview from Halifax.

Brown said about 45 people in the Halifax-Moncton area could lose their jobs, but she hopes retirement packages will be offered to reduce layoffs.

Dave Kissack, a bargaining agent with the union in Western Canada, said the cuts come as a shock.

“I think it’s indicative of the government in general in Canada, not having a national transportation policy and not committing to anything more than hack-and-slash at every opportunity,” he said.

The cuts were also criticized by Harold Nicholson, president of Transport Action Atlantic, a public transportation advocacy group.

“While the rest of the G20 nations invest heavily and wisely in expanding their rail passenger services, Canada’s long-standing policy of cutting Via continues,” said Nicholson.

“These cuts are wrong to the core and the destructiveness of this latest round will soon become apparent, much to the detriment of the more than four million passengers who use Via annually.”

Laliberte said Halifax and Moncton will be hardest hit by job losses, but he hopes that layoffs can be avoided in most cases.

“The normal attrition rate that we have at Via is about eight per cent of our workforce, and we’re talking about a reduction of nine per cent of our workforce, so we expect that a lot of the employees that are going to be affected will be able to keep a job.”

Via notes that it has reduced it management ranks by 15 per cent since 2009.

The Harper government’s recent budget reduced subsidies to the passenger rail service by $6.5 million this year, $15.1 million in 2013-14 and $19.6 million in 2014-15.

Via Rail has worked to reduce its operating deficit. Excluding pension costs, the shortfall was reduced to $9 million in 2010 and a larger reduction was realized in 2011, Laliberte recently said.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1217876–via-rail-to-axe-200-jobs-adjust-service-in-wake-of-federal-budget-cuts?bn=1

From AnnArbor.com:

The city of Ann Arboris moving ahead with a closer evaluation of its options for building a new Amtrak train station somewhere inside the city limits.

That includes consideration of redeveloping the current Amtrak station on Depot Street, as well as the possibility of building a new train station on Fuller Road.

The Ann Arbor City Council voted 9-2 Monday night to finally accept a $2.8 million federal high-speed rail grant that was awarded to the state more than a year ago.

Read more: http://annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-accepts-28m-federal-grant-for-new-train-station/

From The Grand Rapids Press:

Transit competitors of the low-cost Megabus service preparing to roll out a new Michigan routedownplayed news last week of the company’s expansion, saying their time-tested services maintain their customer bases.

Megabus got the go-ahead to roll into Grand Rapids last week, allowing it to bring its big, blue buses and slick marketing of $1 fares into a market that for years has been served by the likes of Amtrak, Greyhound and Indian Trails.

Related: See why Megabus just changed Grand Rapids’ transit landscape — big time

Now, with the 6-year-old upstart Megabus preparing a new route between Detroit, East Lansing, Grand Rapids and Chicago, its competitors were quick to point out what some deem as flaws with Megabus’s business model.

Source: http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/06/see_what_megabuss_transit_comp.html

From The Charlevoix Courier:

A new bus service will roll into Charlevoix on Aug. 1.

Charlevoix City Council members unanimously voted Monday to approve an Indian Trails proposal to develop an official bus stop in downtown Charlevoix. The stop will be at the northern end of the Beaver Island Boat Company building on Bridge Park Drive and the ferry business will serve as the bus service’s local ticket agent.

“It will be a nice little addition,” said mayor Norman “Boogie” Carlson Jr.

City manager Rob Straebel said city staff members highly support the coming bus service as a way to bring more visitors to the community and allow for an important link to the Beaver Island ferry service.

“There are no concerns. We have looked at every aspect of this,” he said.

The plan is for Indian Trail buses to turn onto Bridge Park Drive near the drawbridge and stop, but not spend more than a few minutes parked along the curb. As soon as passengers are loaded or unloaded, the bus will immediately carry on its route, said Kenneth Henry, Indian Trails’ vice-president of operations.

One route will take passengers north to Petoskey, across the Upper Peninsula and to Milwaukee, while another will go south to Traverse City, Grand Rapids and Chicago, both connecting to Amtrak’s national passenger train system. Also, Charlevoix is not unfamiliar territory for the regional bus service company, as Indian Trails has long served Northern Michigan, Henry said.

However, he said the Owosso-based company maintains high expectations for the new Charlevoix bus stop.

“We think it’s going to be very popular,” Henry said.

Donald Monteith, of Charlevoix and Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers’ regional chairman for Northern Michigan, said he is thrilled about the new bus stop. This is the second time the idea came up and he’s pleased it found success this week, he said.

Additionally, Monteith said he expects the bus service to prove useful for those hoping to avoid increasing fuel prices or older folks who simply don’t wish to drive long distances.

“I’d rather sit there and read a book than do the driving,” he said.

Charlevoix soon will appear on national train and bus service timetables, printed 5 million times each year, officials said.

Margo Marks, ferry company president, said officials there are eager for the new bus service and what it will mean for both Charlevoix and Beaver Island.

“It’s great for Charlevoix. It will bring some more people in and they’ll be linked with Beaver Island,” she said.

Henry said Indian Trails will advertise travel to the new Charlevoix bus stop as a combination trip with ferry service to the Lake Michigan island.

City officials also discussed Indian Trails’ request to hang a bus stop sign on the ferry company’s northern exterior wall. City planner Mike Spencer said city rules will allow such a sign — so long as it doesn’t exceed 30 square feet — but the company must first apply for a permit.

City attorney Jim Young reminded Indian Trails officials that the city council’s approval of the new bus service and stop does not relieve their responsibility to seek that sign permit. Henry said they would apply for such a sign permit within a week.

Watch www.indiantrails.com for more information, along with www.bibco.com.

Source: http://www.petoskeynews.com/charlevoix/news/pnr-charlevoix-new-indian-trails-bus-stop-20120622,0,7661764.story