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Bus Fare Hike
Has Translink's bullshit fare hike got you pissed off?
If so, read on: ** Please Forward Widely *** Join the Bus Riders Union FARE STRIKE Friday, January 14, 2005 In response to TransLinks January 1st fare hike the Bus Riders Union is organizing a FARE STRIKE for January 14th , 2005. On this day, BRU organizers as well as allies and activists will be riding the buses throughout the region encouraging bus riders to not pay fares. This will be an opportunity for thousands of bus riders to take direct action against TransLink's policies of privatization, bus cuts, high fares and corporate mega projects. Please get involved in this mass direct action against neo-liberalism and for public services that meet the needs of our communities. DON'T PAY FOR BUS CUTS! Every TransLink fare increase comes with big promises about improved service. However, as we've seen in the past, TransLink prioritizes mega-projects profitable to big business and regional developers and starves the bus system that most transit-dependent people rely on. TransLink's policies of bus cuts, cancelled bus purchases, and pro-corporate priorities must be challenged if we are to achieve a transit system that is public, environmentally sound and accessible to all. DON'T PAY FOR PRIVATIZATION! With the fare increase TransLink will be taking over $13 million a year out of the pockets of bus riders to pay for the privatization of our transit system in the form of the RAV line. This 'Private-Public-Partnership' guarantees a big profit to the private corporations who will build and operate the project while taking control over the transit system out of the hands of the public. DON'T PAY FOR TRANSIT RACISM! The fare increase is an attack on the right to mobility of all bus riders. It is also a racist and sexist policy which will disproportionately impact women, communities of colour and Aboriginal people who are more likely to be transit-dependent because of low-income and lack of access to a car. The fare hike, like privatization, cuts and user fees in other necessary public services, exacerbates and reinforces the oppression and exploitation of immigrants, refugees, people of colour, and Aboriginal people. Last edited by -ff-; Jan 10, 05 at 12:56 AM. |
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not that i like paying extra money, but since the last increase (not this one) i had a skytrain go up in my city, new bus routes, and community buses... i kinda got what i paid for.
it licks balls, but if you buy a bus pass its not that huge of an increase, less then two starbucks coffees. and there is a bus riders union? why havent i been informed? do we get benefits? things that really do piss me off about the bus: - bus drivers that see you, yet dont let you on at 11:30 at night, when the next bus leaves in a half an hour after, and youre cold, alone and a female. - bus drivers that fuck you over by leaving early - having the bus schedual change, and not having signs up about it at stops i find i have more people troubke, than money problems. |
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^
Increasing bus fares is basically taxing the poor. Who rides the busses? Students, seniors, single families, the under-employed. Add that to the fact that Translink has its priorities totally fucked, and is cutting back a lot of bus routes, even though thousands of people are totally depentent on them. Why should impoverished bus riders have to pay for a sky train to the airport that they will never ride? A progressive transit program would increase gas taxes, put in road/ bridge tolls, or divert downtown parking revenues to fund the system, encouraging people to get out of their cars and get into busses and trains. This is also the third fare-hike in five years as well. |
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Rav lines and such
I reply on transit to get me to work all over the place, from langley to west van, to richmond. The price hike is shitty, but we need to build up the public transportation system or more people are just going to buy more cars and create a bigger problem. It'll only get worse if the city decides to keep on building more roads. This city is still at a point where it can decided how it wants to get people around in the future. It can either build up a public transit system, or build more roads. I would rather pay a bit of extra money to see Vancouver go in the right direction (transit) than see more idiots driving an SUV 50km+ to work everyday by themselfs.
p.s It took me 2 and a half hours to get home from richmond on the damn B-line, I would not have had this problem if there was a rapid transit route in place. |
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i come from a sort of middle class\sort of poor background, and im a student who is beyond being broke.
i dont mind them charging me an extra $7 a month, its inflation. we need to start building the funds to create a better transit system. and toll booths? how is that a good thing? lets make our already slowing traffic pattern even slower. and lets make our gas prices even higher then they already are. i sure as hell would bitch if they put a toll booth inbetween my house and the hospital, my family has to go there at least 5 times a month. plus the fact that we rely on our car = gas to get there, an increase in price would decrease our household funds. are we to penalize the people out there with vehicles? make them pay for our public transpertation system? seems kinda obsurd. and which bus routes where cut? in the tri-city areas, bus routes have been added in the past 5 years. Last edited by mugsy; Jan 10, 05 at 12:19 AM. |
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The fact that my school paid for my bus pass during my attendance, is the only way that I could have gotten to school. The alternative wings of our public school system have a very tight budget since the 3M dollar cut in school budgets. Now, down to 5M dollars, the VSB can't afford to give as much money to the alternative programs. I mean? If Transit is going to raise fares, they should comprimise not charging schools and low income students and seniors and for that matter, single parents, or anyone else that CANNOT AFFORD TO DRIVE! VANCOUVER"S PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM SUCKS*
Last edited by lou_belle; Jan 10, 05 at 12:23 AM. |
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Dude, those are like the only people who take transit. More busses, lower fares. Make the drivers pay. Why? because they are polluting. Its the same principle as tax-shifting. If you make it make sense for people to get out of their cars, they will. |
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Make the drivers pay I would have to agree and disagree sure put a bit of tax on buying a car. But why in the hell should drivers of thiere own cars put the burden of paying for services they may or may not use. I feel a small fair increase is fine and this is comming from some one who both drives and takes transit. If I saw more buses out in my area that would be wonderful or maybe an extension of the Skytrains out this way and into Delta. PS: one thing I would really like to see is the trains running to say 4 oclock or even 24/7 I mean really why shut them down. Yes there is cleaning but why not just put 4 trains on the track or 6 trains. It would be very beneficial for the general public to have 24 hour skytrain.. Last edited by BongMan; Jan 10, 05 at 12:41 AM. |
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Thats not really gonna help much untill they extend the system to reach the other lower mainland communities like Delta Richmond Langley POCO POMO and so on. Otherwise people are still going to drive to places cause it is way more convient out this way. |
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Well, they've been promising light rail to pomo/poco for almost a decade. But it keeps getting put off because it doesnt have big corporate interests behind it. The RAV has gordo and the Olympics to push it. The Northeast line was supposed to be next after the millenium line, but now we're going for this White Elephant RAV (which is using the least sustainable/ cost effective technology, but looks the most futureistic) but will without a doubt overrun the original cost estimates. Bus riders who will never use it are paying for it. So why should we be forced to pay for a politically motivated, needlessly expensive service we will never use? Its taxing the poor. On a side note, the same company that is building the RAV is also Canada's largest munitions manufacturer, and is currently bidding for a contract to supply 3-500 million rounds of ammunition to the American Occupation force in Iraq. GO ETHICAL PURCHASING POLICY, VANCOUVER! |
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i only use the bus at night and I am sorry in a way cause my mom is manager of schedualing but it is just in light of RAV |
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my dad is on city council for port moody, and every year port moody as a city, votes against having skytrain come into the city as it would devalueize property\asthetics of the city. and the RAV line is needlessly expensive? whats happening to our city in 2010? the olympics!!! plenty of tourists are going to be eating the RAV line up, traveling straight from the airport to their destinations with a fare thats cheaper then taxi. not to mention all the buisiness people who travel endlessly who can use it. wnat our city to grow and mature? change has to happen. inflation is happening all around us, shit even candy at 7-11 has gone up in price. its going to suck, completely, however, it needs to happen. we dont live in a utopia. we live in north america where our personal comfort is mostly more important then prices\environmental issues. i dont neccessarily agree with all the drivers on the road, i think they should transit too, but i tend to think realistically. people are lazy, our generation, the one before us and all the generations to come will\are also lazy. as much as you tax drivers more and more, they will still find ways to drive. the cause sounds really awesome, and on paper looks mighty pretty, but people are not going to stop driving their cars. unless if we make up some laws liek mexico city, its just not going to happen. |
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I honestly feel pretty pissed as no service has improved... so why shoudl I pay more? North van did get a night bus finaly... however it only works on the west side of lonsdale of corse. So its totaly useless to us deep covers *pfff* And the only change we got was the a reg bus turned into a comunity bus. If anything there saveing!
It is truely cheeper for me to drive/gas/pay park now if I want to go down town. How funny is that? |
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