To the editor,
I would like to hear---yet again---what Metro Transit has to say about the persistent problem with bus idling amongst its drivers. Walking home from work, I noted six Metro Transit buses parked along Trollope Street, all of them idling.
As I recall, the last time this issue came up in The Coast, we were told something about keeping the bus interior warm for driver/passenger comfort. But it was 17 degrees that day, so that can't be it. Or maybe it was because of the increased wear on the diesel engine caused by cold-starting it repeatedly. Oh, yeah. It was 17 degrees.
If Metro Transit took this issue seriously, it would do something to stop it. Instead, we are fed excuses for what is quite honestly inexcusable behaviour by Metro Transit drivers. There should be fines or suspension without pay for drivers caught idling. Unless there is impetus to change, why would we expect the drivers to do so?
The problem is, we all pay for the fuel in the form of taxes and transit fares. And we all suffer the consequences of idling buses in the form of air pollution, noise pollution and diminished fossil fuel reserves, resulting in higher prices at the pump.
Are we going to be honest and admit that driver non-compliance to a poorly enforced pseudo-policy is the reason six buses were idling along Trollope this afternoon, just like every afternoon? ---Steve Petrar, Halifax