I disapprove of your fare raise, @translink
It’s been obvious on my blog that I’ve been a critic of our regional transportation authority (currently Translink) for a number of years. I almost failed my PhD comprehensive exams thanks to the 2001 bus drivers’ strike (I couldn’t get from 12th Avenue and Granville to UBC with ease).
However, even when I’ve criticized Translink, I’ve also praised them on what they’re doing well. The woman behind the @SkytrainLady Twitter account, Jennifer Siddon, has done a marvelous job of engaging with citizens. Sg. Tom Seaman (@TransitPolice) has also worked hard on this account (although lately he seems to have stopped tweeting).
But after investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a campaign to make the citizens of the Metro Vancouver area “Travel Smart” so that they abandon their cars, and find more sustainable modes of transportation (of which I approve – I walk everywhere and I bus/Skytrain/Canada Line when it’s a longer distance), the regional transportation authority is slapping citizens with a $8 increase (I used to pay $73 for my bus pass, now I have to pay $81).
Given that it’s almost an $100 increase per year, the incentive is NOT to make people use cars LESS, it’s becoming an incentive to use them MORE and to make the calculation of trade-offs much simpler – it’s more expensive to take transit, I now will want to drive.
After having lived in Montreal, as well as many smaller cities, I’ll say this: I don’t like paying more for Translink passes, but I’d rather pay more for Translink than less for the STM.
Translink provides a clean, safe, efficient, and most of all, fast way to get around Vancouver. The drivers are courteous, the system rarely breaks down for any length of time, and I get where I’m going on time (unless I miss a bus).
Contrast that with the STM. Getting from the suburbs to downtown in Montreal involves climbing into a dark, hot, humid hole, packing into a noisy, suffocating train with 400 other people and no AC or ventilation, and then sitting there, packed in like sardines, for a good 45 minutes until you get downtown. That assumes that you get downtown though. Maybe once a week, there’s an ‘electrical problem’ or a ‘medical emergency’ causing you to be stuck in a dark, cramped, stuffy, humid car, reeking of the sweat of your fellow commuters, and the stench of those few but pungent people who seem to approach bathing with the same regularity as paying rent. On more than one occasion, I’ve spent 30 minutes or more stuck on a train with nothing to do but wish I weren’t in Montreal.
Once you get out of the car and into the station, it’s a breath of (relatively) fresh air, or at least better-circulated air. The stations are all dark, developed with what I’m sure was edgy artistic flair when they were new in the 70’s, are all worn and aged. The dark concrete is claustrophobic at best and depressing at worst, the artwork is initially interesting but easily forgettable, and the buskers, if you aren’t lucky enough to have one of the few talented performers, make the experience one you would rather not suffer through. Every station has turnstiles, many of which are broken a lot of the time.
The bus drivers I’ve encountered, on the few occasions I’d had where I was forced to take the bus, were generally unfriendly on the best of days. The bus that took me from my apartment to the metro station, which came ‘every 6 minutes’, generally came every 18 minutes instead. When it did bother to show up, especially on ill-weather days, it was generally too full to fit onto, so I would have to wait another 12-18 minutes for the next one.
So yeah, I’m glad to live in Vancouver, and I’m glad to have Translink. I’m glad to pay $81 every month for their services, and while I’ll complain when a bus doesn’t show, or shows early, or shows late, in my heart I know that it could be much, much worse. I still know that when I get on the bus, it won’t be packed too full to breathe. When I get to the skytrain, it’ll show up within a few minutes, and it’ll get me to my destination when I expected it to. If it’s too hot, I can open a window. If it’s daytime, I get to see the sun. If I have a problem, I can find staff to help, and even if everything is going wrong, I’ve missed my bus, the next one doesn’t show, the skytrain is delayed, and I’m at my wit’s end, I still remember that those bad days are the norm in some places, and then I really don’t mind so much.
Complain all you want, but we’re lucky to have Translink, and I’ll never forget that.
I think that bike riders should be taxed to pay for Translink. They use the road, thus they should cover some of the costs.
While I don’t like paying more for transit, and I would like to see my money go towards improving the system, the key is making sure that transit stays on par with driving (if not cheaper).
When I was going DT every day, I toyed with getting a monthly pass vs tickets, the problem is that getting 4 books a month is only slightly more expensive than a monthly pass. I think the difference needs to be greater to encourage MORE riding, instead of just buying books of tickets.
luc,
Vancouver roads are paid for mainly through property taxes. So cyclists like myself are already paying much more than our share, especially given the relatively small amount of wear and tear our bikes place on the road compared to cars.
See the following two links for more info on this:
http://www.vtpi.org/whoserd.pdf
http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/streets/design/index.htm