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Converting to Metric Canadian band energizes Budweiser Gardens >> pg. 4
thegazette Wishing the USC would name our babies since 1906
Thursday, November 22, 2012
today high 13 low 7
tomorrow high 7 low -1
canada’s only Daily Student Newspaper • founded 1906
Volume 106, Issue 45
London Rocket launches
Fontana charged with three criminal counts Students create alternative bus service Aaron Zaltzman News Editor
londonrocket.ca
Jesica Hurst News Editor If you’re a Western student from Toronto, Mississauga or Oakville, you now have the opportunity to save money on transportation to and from your hometown. The London Rocket is a new, inexpensive bus service created by Western students to help save on travel costs. Although the service is only running during final exams so far, the London Rocket will cost $18 to $20 per one-way trip, depending on which city you’re returning to. Brett Heron, a second-year political science student and managing director of the London Rocket, explained the FedBus at the University of Waterloo inspired his team to create the London Rocket. “They have run a similar lowcost bus service with great suc-
cess. We wanted to bring a similar cost-saving opportunity to the Western community,” Heron said. “We have also been in connection with Bill Mei and Darren Cole, students at Queen’s, who have successfully run bus trips under the Kingston Rocket name. We have been working in conjunction with their team to develop this service for Western.” According to Heron, although this service is targeted toward students, technically anyone can purchase a ticket through their website, www.londonrocket.ca, via PayPal. However, the scheduling will cater mostly to students so far. “Seeing as this is the launch and our first trip at Western, we are currently only offering this service during major holidays and exam periods,” he said. “However, we are extremely confident this will
be successful, and certainly have plans to expand this service to operate on a more regular basis.” So how exactly is the London Rocket service able to offer tickets to Toronto, Mississauga and Oakville for so cheap? Heron explained they were able to cut costs significantly by using a school bus instead of a coach bus. Although students may question how comfortable a school bus will be, Heron thinks students will realize the savings will trump not being able to ride on a luxury coach bus. Shefali Bahal, a third-year social science student at Western, recently signed up for the London Rocket because she was intrigued by the idea of having a lower cost method when travelling from Lon-
The flames around Joe Fontana grew higher yesterday, as a nearly two-month-long investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police culminated yesterday in three charges against the London mayor. The announcement of the charges, including breach of trust of a public officer, fraud under $5,000 and uttering forged documents, comes just days after Fontana released a statement vowing he would not resign as mayor. Fontana has been under investigation since mid-October, when allegations came to light he had used $20,000 in public money for his son’s wedding while serving as a Liberal MP in 2005. Some time later, the mayor retained legal
services and ceased communications with the public on the matter, except through scattered press releases. The announcement of the charges, which will be followed today by a statement from Fontana at 1 p.m., is certain to increase the already growing pressure on Fontana to step aside as the city’s mayor. Last month, Fontana survived a motion to step aside at council, but is facing a new one at Monday’s finance and administration committee. “I’m absolutely adamant now that he has to step aside. There’s going to be such a cloud hanging over the city that we won’t be able to get anything done, especially coming into the budget, with the >> see fraud pg.2
>> see Bus service pg.3
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