Summary of Fredericton’s Acadian Lines Bus Station Controversy
Posted by Lamespotting on 08 Jun 2009 at 04:00 am | Tagged as: Fredericton
What’s the problem?
Acadian Lines were kicked out of their current location at Regent & Brunswick. They had to quickly find a new location as their landlord wanted them out in a hurry. The best location they could find was on Woodside Lane, which isn’t the most convenient location.
Against this location are:
- Downtown businesses who see the loss of potential clients
- Poverty activists who don’t like the fact that taxi fares will cost more
- NIMBYs who believe that bus users are drug addicted criminals
- Bus passengers who will now have to spend more on a cab or walk farther
- Environmentalists who want to increase the use of public transportation
- There are no sidewalks on Woodside Lane making a trip to Tim’s a bit unsafe
- Many other groups have many other reasons
Positives about this location:
- It’s available now
- Easy to get to from the highway, nice wide turning lanes for the buses
- It’s cheaper rent than downtown
- The mayor gets free advertising as that street is named after him
- Tim Horton’s sees more business
What are the alternatives?
Several alternative locations have been proposed, but each have their problems:
Two Nations Crossing
- Even more inconvenient than Woodside Lane.
The old Sobeys/Lofood/TRA
- That land would be better suited for a much larger development as it’s waterfront
- Expensive
- Floods in the spring
- The City owns the parking lot, but Sobey’s owns the building
The former Luna Pizza on Dundonald
- NIMBYs – remember the affordable housing project that wanted to go in there?
The former train station site on York
- There’s an old train station sitting on it that would have to be torn down or fixed up at great expense
- Heritage activists will protest the demolition of the train station
- Many citizens will protest tax dollars being used to fix up a derelict train station that Irving neglected
- Is it even fixable? We’ll have hordes of armchair structural engineers making their opinions known.
- Even if they do fix it up, it may not be up to proper “standards” that some people think it should be. The current bus station is pretty plain and bland. Can Acadian Lines actually afford something much nicer?
- I can’t imagine that site not being contaminated
- NIMBYs – remember all the protests about the Sobeys? It’ll be much worse for a bus station.
- Irving may not be willing to sell the land to Acadian Lines.
I don’t want the bus station on Woodside Lane, what can I do?
Your best bet is to let it go there for now. There is no point in making a big fuss about it now as it’s a done deal and there really aren’t any readily available options.
Remember that the City helped the Brunswick St. Baptist Church find new land for their expansion in order to save York House. That means they can also assist Acadian Lines in getting onto the train station property. Encourage them to do so.
Encourage Acadian Lines to work with the city to find a better location.
Tell the NIMBYs to shut up once they start complainig. If heritage advocates start giving trouble, ask them where they were before the train station started falling over.
Update: July 16th 2009. The vote has passed: Acadian Lines Fredericton Terminal update
The heritage advocates were there before the building started falling over. Even three years ago, when the building was starting to really show neglect, JDI, the Mayor and several MLAs, and concerned citizens came together to find a solution. We (the concerned citizens) were told a “working group” would be formed to solve the problem. Three years later, the building is in even WORSE shape, and all people involved are pointing fingers at each other.T he train station/bus station combo is trying to fix two Fredericton problems w/ one fell swoop. It might be a bridge too far.
However, regarding the Brunswick St Baptist Church situation, we would have lost the building had heritage advocates not “given trouble”. It would have been much easier for the congregation to tear the building down without the uproar.
Rather than seeing Fredericton as a bunch of complainers, I think it’s great that people in the city take the time to get involved in civic affairs. It’s our city, and we have no one to blame but ourselves if we don’t speak up.
It’s 4 miles from downtown!!!!
I made a little youtube…..
stay tuned!!!
I lived three blocks from the bus station’s current location for three years. Not once was it a source of concern to me.
I do think moving it Woodside Lane would be a mistake but mostly because it would cost a significant portion of passengers (a large number of them students)more money to get to and from that location.
I believe that the bus station should stay downtown. But, if it moves it moves and there isn’t much anyone can do once the new location is up and running. I’m not saying don’t make noise now, if making noise now works, then all the better.
If it costs more, it costs more. People will need to learn to budget for the additional expense. Sure some people aren’t in a position to do that, but I’m sure most spend money on crap they don’t need. How much are people wasting at Tims everyday, smokes, etc…?
A cab ride to/from Woodside Ln is pennies compared to a single coffee every day.