FOR RELEASE     #08-249
October 16, 2008

WHITEHORSE – In recognition of Women’s History Month, Minister responsible for the Women’s Directorate, Marian C. Horne today unveiled a poster celebrating the work of the Yukon Women’s Mini-Bus Society.

“This year marks the 16th annual Women’s History Month and the 20th anniversary of the transfer of the mini-bus service to an independent transit commission,” Horne said. “We are proud to acknowledge these women who made a significant contribution to the lives of Yukoners in the 1970s through the creation and running of this service.”

The poster, which commemorates the society that ran the first modern transit system in Whitehorse from 1975 to 1978, was unveiled at a reception hosted at the Yukon Transportation Museum.

With an $80,000 demonstration grant from Transport Canada, the society purchased two mini-buses and started with a call-in service and regular after school schedules to Porter Creek, Riverdale and Lobird. Additional routes were later introduced.

The mini-buses provided personal service to riders by dropping people at their doors and by stopping along the road when flagged down. The society also offered part-time, good-paying, non-traditional work to women as an integral part of its mandate and introduced job-sharing to the Whitehorse workforce.

In 1977 a federal, Yukon government and City Council review of the service reported that it was an “extremely successful transit operation.” The report recommend the City set up an independent transit commission and the society agreed. On July 1, 1978, a newly created transit commission took over the system.

“It is important that Yukoners remember where we come from,” said Horne.

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