Alot
of people take public transit in our fair city. Every year within the last ten
years, TransLink has been breaking its own records with the amount of
passengers who take public transit. This trend as of 2010 has exceeded more
than 211.3 million passengers. However, is the general public being served
adequately, or is the system they rely on to get around failing them?
Making
public transit in Metro Vancouver better has been a goal for City Council
recently. In Vision Vancouver’s last campaign, they promise to ameliorate the
system by increasing the infrequent night bus service; however, this hasn’t happened
yet. Meanwhile, TransLink has some interesting ideas on how to improve
ridership.
Most
recently, TransLink has begun the installation of the fare gate system, slated
to be up and running by 2013. The fare gate system is meant to stop people from
getting onto the skytrain without paying.
This
is what James Moore, B.C. Senior Federal Minister, had to say about how the
gates will make transit more accessible: “Not only do I think it’ll crack down
on those who are trying to cheat the system by getting on the system for free,
but on top of that, I think you’ll probably have more people using public
transit.”
This
is a completely negative perspective coming from the Senior Federal Minister
that falsely criminalizes the people he is suppose to serve. Public
transportation is an essential service that is supposed to serve the general
public – the general public including everyone from the unemployed to the
stinking rich.
Some
cities have recognized that transportation is a right. The city of Hasselt in
Belgium is one example. In 1997, after improving their bus, pedestrian, and
cycling infrastructure, they introduced fare-free transit. The yearly operating
budget is around $7.8 million and is largely funded by the national government.
Their ridership increased by 1,223 per cent four years after removing fees.
An
independent audit was completed in 2007 about these “cheaters” that Moore refers
to, and found that TransLink was losing an estimated $6.4 million per year
worth of revenue, due to fare-evaders. This has been an issue that Translink has
been fighting against for a long time now, and to them, fare gates are the
solution they’ve been looking for.
Other
fixes to the fare-evasion problem have been lacking. In 2005, TransLink created
the transit police, and operates the force at a whopping $27 million per year
to eliminate this yearly estimated loss of $6.4 million.
We'll
be generous and round that number up to $7 million. So let’s do the basic math:
27 minus seven is 20. That means that every year, $20 million of taxpayer money
is being wasted and not being used to improve the transportation system.
Some
might argue that the transit police make the system safer, but a report done by
the city of Edmonton says otherwise: in looking at the B.C. model while
considering instituting their own transit police system, they found that
overlapping jurisdictions with municipal police forces and the RCMP renders
these transit police a waste of money. Edmonton decided not to follow in our
footsteps.
The
current installation of fare gates and administrating police force is further
derailing the purpose of public transit considering the disposition of the
general public it serves.
Right
now, a fare of $2.50 may not seem like a lot to people; however, for those who
need mobility in order to survive, a single-zone bus pass costs $81. This is a
substantial amount for many people; for example, single employable people living
on the $610 welfare provided to them with the requirement that they be looking
for work – an activity that requires regular travel throughout the city. With
the cost of transit police and fare gates, people who have it worst off in all
circumstances will find it difficult and possibly physically impossible to get
around.
Put
this in perspective with the current honour system, without the transit police:
more people would be able to ride transit without the paranoia of a police
force which actively looks to charge people $173 for not paying $2.50 for a transfer.
Safety would be at a similar level, considering the municipal police, and we
wouldn’t be in concrete deficit of $20 million a year.
Currently
as it stands, the transit system put in place isn’t working. The amount of
money being spent on the transit police and the installations of the turnstiles
doesn’t benefit the general public.
Instead
of trying to do patchwork on this sinking ship of a system, we should look at
existing models of transportations that work. Perhaps we should demand a
fare-free system such as that of the city of Hasselt instead of paying
exorbitant costs to enforce something that doesn’t work. Public transit should
put the needs of the public above all.
Harrison
Pratt is a musician, former Capilano film student, and resident of East
Vancouver. His experiences working minimum wage and handing over most of his
income to pay for his previous education have led him to write about issues
affecting the low-income population of Vancouver.
//Harrison Pratt, columnist
//Harrison Pratt, columnist
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