EDITOR,I left the area where I grew up for the same variety of reasons as other people. Recently I've been reading more about my old home and comparing it to the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, where I live now.
The Annapolis Valley is more than 200 kilometes long with a highway down the middle of it. Actually, there's the "old" highway and the "new" highway. Highway 101 runs near all of the towns but doesn't go through the middle of any of them. It's mostly two lanes with passing lanes on the hills. Highway 1 is the old road, the one that connects all the small towns and passes as Main Street in many of them.
It winds and twists and climbs. I've driven every kilometre of it in cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles and bicycles. I've even flown above it as a student pilot. None of the small towns along this highway have more than 5,000 people most of the time.
Many of the towns are commercial hubs for farming areas. There are exceptions. There are fishermen who have learned to live with the highest tides in the world. There are miners who bring gypsum out of the ground. There's a deep sea port.
Wolfville doubles in size each fall when Acadia University, from which I graduated, is in session. Kentville and Lawrenctown have community colleges. Waterville has a small airport and a Michelin tire plant. Greenwood has an air force base. Cornwallis has the navy.
Like the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, the Annapolis Valley is a long line of small communities connected by a highway. There is one huge difference, though. The Annapolis Valley communities are linked by transit. A Transport Canada report said: "Kings Transit Authority is one of Canada's most efficient small transit systems and offers a model for rural communities that want to provide cost-effective transit service."
The third-largest transit authority in Nova Scotia, it now serves more than 20 communities in four counties. That's a lot of municipal co-operation.
If elected SLRD representatives want to learn from what already works, I suggest they contact the people at Kings Transit. If they want to go and see it in person, I'd be happy to go along as a guide.
Don't re-invent the wheel. Stop making excuses. Stop pointing to the difficulties. Stop the destruction of the Squamish Commuter.
Pool your resources. Join the Pemberton and Squamish commuters together. Call it Sea to Sky Transit or whatever name works. Put buses on the road. Put people in the buses. It can be done.
Links to Kings Transit and information on the Squamish Commuter can be found at Whistler Squamish Bus on Facebook.Murray GambleSquamish
