Loyalist journalism program hosts forum Tuesday on regional transit in Quinte

By Brittany Woodcock 

BELLEVILLE – Loyalist College’s Journalism-Communications program is hosting a public forum Tuesday night to talk about the possibility of a regional public-transit system in the Quinte area.

This conversation started late last years when Sarah Law, a student in the final year of journalism at Loyalist, started working on a story about housing in Belleville and how it’s hard to find rental accommodation, said Andy Clarke, a journalism-communications professor.

“One of the things that came out of the story Sarah did … was one solution might be if people had an easier way to get around on public transit,” Clarke said. “Not just in Belleville, but connecting Belleville with Quinte West and the areas north and south. That might alleviate some problems with rental accommodations.”

After that, Law and Clarke put together a team of journalism students to work on stories about the possibility of a regional transit system.

The headlines for these stories include: Is a regional transit system possible in the Belleville/Quinte West area?, Regional transit: co-operation among municipalities is the key, advocates say, Transportation a key issue for Quinte-area seniors, especially in winter, Students share their transit struggles, Is a semester-long bus pass for Loyalist College students a good idea?, Public transit essential for Quinte seniors’ well-being, advocates say and Walking in a winter wonderland – on the side of Highway 62.

Hosting a forum to get residents and elected officials talking about the issue was discussed early in the process, but it wasn’t decided to go ahead with it until it became obvious that the stories were having an impact, Clarke said: “It seemed like we plugged into something – an idea that people were interested in.”

Politicians, representatives of community organizations and public servants connected to public transit are expected at Tuesday’s forum.

Clarke said he wants to get the word about the event out to ordinary citizens so they can come and share their stories about public transit and how a regional transit system could help them.

The forum isn’t just a place to complain about what’s wrong with the current transit options, he said.

“We understand there are issues around public transit, and we’ll hear some of that … but we don’t want that to be the focus. We want the focus to be on ‘How can we build a better regional system? Is that something we should be thinking about?’ ”

The forum will be held in Loyalist College’s Alumni Hall from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Everyone is welcome to attend and be a part of the conversation.