Laval transit authority tries to discourage drunken driving
By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
Once again this year, Société des transports de Laval (STL) will waive its bus fares, the evenings of Dec. 25 and 31. The aim is to permit Laval residents to enjoy their holiday festivities to the fullest, while reducing the risk that revelers will get behind the wheel of a car after having had too much to drink.
“The free service will start on most bus routes around 5 p.m., both of those days,” STL spokeswoman Marie-Céline Bourgault told The Suburban in an interview. “It will continue through the night, until the bus service stops, around 2:30-3 a.m., Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.”
Bourgault said that the free service was the brainchild of a former STL director, about ten years ago.
“In addition to the free service, he invited riders to make a freewill donation to charity when they board the bus,” she explained. “It’s not obligatory.”
“This year, the money that we collect will be donated to the Centre de bénévolat de Québec,” Bourgault added. “A group called the Boomerang Committee will use the funds to help feed needy children who don’t otherwise get to have breakfast before they head off to school in the morning.”
She said that the collection will take place on both holiday evenings.
