Public transit should be nearly free - but I do think there’s one main argument in favor of keeping it from being completely free - safety. Without a token charge, and with a lack of adequate shelters, busses are one of the most reliable shelters from weather and if folks flock to it to stay cool/dry/warm then it’ll make it feel less safe especially for vulnerable folks including single women and the elderly.
We absolutely need to move beyond this dumbass neoliberal idea that public transit should be self funding, though.
I would say in that case we should instead provide housing for all our vulnerable members of society with a round the clock healthcare team as they do in Finland. They got down to 4000 unhoused people recently.
As we could build 4 storey apartments under social housing to end homelessness in BC.
I do support building out social housing - Austria is an excellent example of how to do it well… but these houses don’t exist yet so I have concerns about how public transit would be until they did - lowering the cost and adding more provincial funding today would help immediately.
Tourists bring in a boatload of money. I’m not even sure how you would enact a mechanism like this… A BC toll taker at every port, airport and land crossing? How much are we charging to pay for that, that somehow doesn’t hurt tourism industries but also completely subsidizes our use of public transit?
I love public transit, think it’s important but this seems more one of those “things I would like but don’t seem particularly feasible.”
(Also, if you’ve ever been on the N20 or even BLine and watched a mentally unhinged man threatening women, children, non white people or other vulnerable people, well… Not wildly sure I want to drop the barrier to entry to zero. I can be a scary looking dude and have had to use that at least 3 times in the last year as someone experiencing mental issues went off on a quiet brown guy, a woman and some teens respectively.)
You’re thinking short term as more people would have access to work and healthcare services the less strain they will have on their mental health from being excluded.
That’s a pretty bold leap. I’m pretty confident the guy screaming removed**removed on the street has bigger problems than the lack of free transit. (Also, if you’ve ever take a skytrain you’ll notice how payment is rather optional for most folks with issues.)
We need free transit to improve service and the loading times.
This will also help unhoused people and people with substance use disorders find work and get to services they need.
To help fund this foreign tourists should pay an entry tax depending how long they stay.
Hmm, I mostly agree with the rest of your comment but you lost me there.
Public transit should be nearly free - but I do think there’s one main argument in favor of keeping it from being completely free - safety. Without a token charge, and with a lack of adequate shelters, busses are one of the most reliable shelters from weather and if folks flock to it to stay cool/dry/warm then it’ll make it feel less safe especially for vulnerable folks including single women and the elderly.
We absolutely need to move beyond this dumbass neoliberal idea that public transit should be self funding, though.
I would say in that case we should instead provide housing for all our vulnerable members of society with a round the clock healthcare team as they do in Finland. They got down to 4000 unhoused people recently.
As we could build 4 storey apartments under social housing to end homelessness in BC.
I do support building out social housing - Austria is an excellent example of how to do it well… but these houses don’t exist yet so I have concerns about how public transit would be until they did - lowering the cost and adding more provincial funding today would help immediately.
Tourists bring in a boatload of money. I’m not even sure how you would enact a mechanism like this… A BC toll taker at every port, airport and land crossing? How much are we charging to pay for that, that somehow doesn’t hurt tourism industries but also completely subsidizes our use of public transit?
I love public transit, think it’s important but this seems more one of those “things I would like but don’t seem particularly feasible.”
(Also, if you’ve ever been on the N20 or even BLine and watched a mentally unhinged man threatening women, children, non white people or other vulnerable people, well… Not wildly sure I want to drop the barrier to entry to zero. I can be a scary looking dude and have had to use that at least 3 times in the last year as someone experiencing mental issues went off on a quiet brown guy, a woman and some teens respectively.)
You’re thinking short term as more people would have access to work and healthcare services the less strain they will have on their mental health from being excluded.
That’s a pretty bold leap. I’m pretty confident the guy screaming removed**removed on the street has bigger problems than the lack of free transit. (Also, if you’ve ever take a skytrain you’ll notice how payment is rather optional for most folks with issues.)