The father of a dialysis patient is sharing his concerns regarding idling bus fumes outside the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax.
“He needs a kidney, he's on the transplant list, so he goes to dialysis three nights a week,” says Tom Furlong, who regularly attends appoint with his son at the Dickson Centre.
Furlong says he regularly sees Halifax Transit buses idlingtheir engines.
“Many times the Metro Transit bus drivers who are there picking up patients will sit there with their engines idling,” he says. “Sometimes they'll even get out of the bus.”
Furlong says when the buses idle, it means he and his very ill son are breathing in fumes.
“Since the doors are always opening, since it's an enclosed space, and since they're driving under part of the building,there's very little air flow,” says Furlong. “I’ve talked to security people inside and they say that the exhaust is enough to kill them at times.”
Halifax Transitsays it does have an anti-idling policy that encourages drivers to shut off their engines after three minutes no matter where they are, but drivers are asked to use their discretion.
“On hot days, we want to keep the customers comfortable and obviously in the dead of winter that heat is appreciated,” says Jennifer Stairs, with Halifax Regional Municipality.
Capital Health also has an anti-idling policy for its own vehicles that shuttle patients between hospitals.
Drivers are required to shut off the ignition after 30 seconds.
“I mean, you're not allowed to even smoke on hospital property,” says Furlong. “I’ve seen security guards chasing people off to go smoke outside, but Metro bus drivers, too many of them, just ignore the‘turn off your engines’ while you're waiting.”
Furlong says he has complained to Halifax Transit and he has also asked drivers to turn off their buses.
With files from CTV's Kayla Hounsell.
