VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — TransLink is hopeful Metro Vancouver commuters will cooperate with the mandatory mask policy when it comes into effect Monday.
Through the weekend, workers installed thousands of decals and signs throughout the system, a move that’s in line with their initial approach to prioritize education over enforcement.
Many of our vehicle signs have now been switched over – with masks mandatory on board all of our transit vehicles starting from tomorrow pic.twitter.com/WegRNmXCdO
Spokesperson Ben Murphy says other cities — like Toronto — have seen 95 per cent compliance with mandatory masking without any “active enforcement.”
“We would hope to see similar types of take up here, but we’ll have to wait and see,” he says.
“We’ve already seen anecdotally that more people are wearing masks on transit, so we are encouraged to see that it appears at least more people are getting the message.”
Transit police have the authority to enforce the policy but for the first few weeks, riders will be reminded rather than reprimanded.
“We’ll have to closely monitor over the next couple of weeks to see what the take-up rates are, of course we do have the option of enforcement via transit police but I think people will do the right thing,” Murphy says.
He’s optimistic that masks and face coverings will quickly become normalized as “part of transit culture.”
“If we can get a large amount of people, most people, the vast majority of people on transit wearing face coverings or masks it makes it a safer experience for everyone, and that’s the key point of this policy.”
Children under five; people with underlying medical conditions or who are otherwise unable to wear a mask; and workers separated from the public by barriers are exempt from the requirement to wear a face covering.
“Our concerns have never changed, which is that the drivers should be focused on driving the bus and enforcement — if there is any enforcement — be left to the appropriate authorities,” says Gavin McGarrigle, western regional director of Unifor.
“We’ve been assured that the drivers are not going to be responsible for enforcing the policy, and we’re working with the company to talk about things like extra security, police presence, things like that — if they do go down that road of enforcement.”
McGarrigle says members are supportive of any policy that is meant to increase safety on transit, so long as their safety isn’t compromised.
“In terms of drivers directly confronting customers, we don’t expect to see that in fact we’re strongly encouraging drivers not to do that,” he says.
“There have been, long before the pandemic, assaults on drivers and we don’t want to see that.”
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
