OC Transpo Rejects Proposal To Allow Pets On Public Buses; Toronto Plans High-Tech Bike Rental

Ottawa, Ontario (AHN) - As more Canadians shift to public transport or alternative methods of traveling caused by high fuel cost, transportation-related policies have taken center stage in the city halls of major cities.

At Ottawa, the city's Transit Committee rejected a proposal to allow pets on public buses during a six-month pilot test period. The proposal came from Capital Coun. Clive Doucet. After two hours of debate his proposal was thumbed down.

The only exception given was to resident Francis Woodard to take with her pet ferret named Gyno when she takes the OC Transpo buses. Gyno is a service animal trained and registered with a city-accredited organization. Woodard, who is in a wheelchair and often suffers from severe panic attacks, said she needs her ferret whenever she travels. A ferret belongs to the family of weasels and is a very close relative of the polecat.

In Toronto, the city will launch sometime between late fall and summer of 2009 a high-tech bike rental program similar to the one used in Paris and other major global cities, said Councilor Adrian Heaps.

The rental bicycles use a swipe-card access, has a range of speed from one to three and a rack on the back to carry things. Heaps said the city is still determining the location of the bicycle rental hubs, number of bikes and roads where it will be allowd.

Paris launched its Velib program in 2007 and since then has over 211,000 subscribers who had rode more than 31 million trips on the two-wheeled transport mode. Denver, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. are launching similar schemes this summer, while Montreal is pilot testing one on September.

Bike-sharing arrangements are already available in Copenhagen, Lyon and Barcelona, while Portland, Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco are also mulling the launch of their own bike rental programs.

Paris' Velib has 20,000 rental bikes and 1,400 self-service rental booths. Rental fee is $45 (29 euro) a year. The bikes could be dropped off at another kiosk. Use of the bike is free for the first 30 minutes, then a $1.60 (1 euro) charge is placed for every 30 minutes of extra use.