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Dogs won’t be allowed to ride Greater Victoria buses

Dogs on leashes are a no-go on Greater Victoria Transit buses for the foreseeable future. Transit commissioners voted today against changing the policy that allows pets on board only if they are small enough to fit into laptop carriers.
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Wednesday: Tessa Hawkins, with her support dog, Kash, is pleased that B.C. Transit has decided not to allow dogs on buses. Riding a bus is stressful, she says, and “the thought of adding another distraction makes my pulse race."

Dogs on leashes are a no-go on Greater Victoria Transit buses for the foreseeable future.

Transit commissioners voted today against changing the policy that allows pets on board only if they are small enough to fit into laptop carriers.

The decision to support the 10-year-old rule was made in response to a presentation in the fall by Victoria Raging Grannies. They wanted Victoria to emulate the dog-friendly policies of other transit systems.

The Grannies said they were disappointed by how little information the commission had about other cities’ policies on the topic.

Survey responses by the public and bus operators showed a narrow majority of the public was against dogs on leashes, compared to the vast majority of bus drivers.

Of 4,179 public responses, 2,122 said no, 1,583 said yes and 475 said dogs should sometimes be allowed on buses.

There were 1,268 public comments about allergies, and 566 about fear, mostly of larger dogs, said B.C.Transit safety director John Palmer.

Commissioners also heard from three women with serious health conditions that they said would be aggravated by dogs on buses, including Tessa Hawkins, who travels on buses with her own epilepsy response dog.

Hawkins said Kash has given her independence in life, but on buses, it’s stressful and distracting enough when passengers step on him and pet him. The biggest distraction is the behaviour of other dogs.

Erika Ladouceur, who suffers from life-threatening asthma, was grateful for the decision, saying she must already take allergy injections to take the bus.

Raging Granny Fran Thoburn, 83, said she would continue to push the issue, saying at some point she won’t be able to get to a dog park without taking a city bus. On a trip to Toronto, where dogs are allowed on transit, she never saw them. It’s not as if there were going to be a dozen dogs crammed on every bus if B.C. Transit changed its policy, she said.

She was disappointed that the questions asked in the survey did not incorporate factors the Grannies supported, such as leashed dogs only in off-peak hours and giving operators absolute privilege to refuse access.

kdedyna@timescolonist.com