The Victoria Regional Transit Commission weighed the pros and cons, considered the varied viewpoints and decided not to allow dogs to ride on buses.
It鈥檚 a pity. We looked forward to seeing the buses come down the road with happy dogs poking their heads out windows, tongues lolling in the breeze. It would have added a smile to the daily commute.
Of course, dogs 鈥� like human passengers 鈥� would not have been allowed to stick heads or other appendages out of bus windows for safety reasons, but there are other reasons why dogs would make good bus passengers.
Most are well-trained, clean and well-behaved. Can鈥檛 say the same for all humans.
Obedience school could include a class on going right to the back of the bus, setting a good example for two-legged passengers.
Seniors and others who depend on dogs for companionship would have welcomed the opportunity to travel with their canine friends.
Dogs on buses would be ice-breakers, giving human passengers reason to chat with each other. It鈥檚 not always easy to talk to people you don鈥檛 know, but many a conversation is started between complete strangers when someone bends down to pat a dog.
The transit commission had sound reasons for maintaining the canine ban 鈥� passengers with allergies, conflicts with service dogs and problems with the occasional poorly trained mutt 鈥� but good for the commission for giving it serious consideration and good for the Raging Grannies for starting the conversation with their petition.
