City council approves Vision 2040 plan

City council has approved the Canadian Urban Transit Association vision of the future.

Council voted to align the city’s goals with those in the CUTA’s Vision 2040. Michael Roshlau, president and chief executive officer of CUTA, gave a presentation to council about transit in 2040. The plan covered all areas of transit from fuel use to bus fares.
Some of the recommendations included developing a national transit policy framework and fully integrate transit with community planning and design.

Roshlau painted a picture where Canadian society in 2040 has changed; smaller and rural communities have a decreased population but major urban centres will become congested.

He said there’s six major themes in order to reach the best outcome for transit’s future.

Those themes included:

• Transit at the centre of the community

• Revolutionizing service

• Focusing on customers

• Green transit

• Ensuring financial health

• Strengthening knowledge and practice

Roshlau said Thunder Bay faces some challenges in developing this strategy but he added the city could use its existing hubs as a starting block for the plan.

“Where there’s a will there’s a way,” Roshlau said. “I`ll be the first to admit that Thunder Bay in terms of its geographic layout has some real challenges with the physical size of the city and the distance that needs to be covered and the stagnant population growth.”

Current River Ward Coun. Andrew Foulds requested the recommendation be amended to include that the city will use vision 2040 to work with other levels of government.

The amendment was passed.