why don't we just pick a bus off the transit tree?

What do you suppose the reaction would be if you stood outside your favorite grocery store and asked everyone entering if they would like to pay less for milk? The answer is obvious isn't it? So what if you created a petition and told all of these people that by signing they would show the store manager that a whole bunch of like-minded people believe that they should be paying less for milk and therefore the manager should give all of us milk consumers a break and roll back the price. How do you suppose the store manager would react?

Perhaps, in this case the manager would turn to her milk supplier and demand that he reduce the stores milk price in order that the store may ease its customers burden at the cash register. Or maybe intead the store manager would call a meeting of her employees and inform them that the only way to meet the demands outlined in the petition and reduce the price of milk will be for each worker to take a pay cut.

Of course this is ridiculous!

The point here is that despite the fact that we would all like to pay less for the things that we use, everything has a price and someone has to pay it. The only way to avoid this simple truth is to go without all of the things that we need or enjoy. So I can't help but wonder what BC NDP Leader Carole James is really trying to tell us when she says that "transit users like the idea of lower fairs"?

Duh!

Of course they do and it should be no surprise that people would approach her on January 30 at the Broadway skytrain station and sign her petition calling for lower fares. Lets face it, there isn't a person out there that wouldn't like to save a buck or two somewhere and somehow.

Recently Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon announced an incredible $14 billion investment to improve transit in British Columbia. This investment is long overdue if we have any hope in meeting the BC Liberals aggressive emission reduction targets and if we truly expect to keep a growing Metro Vancouver population moving at the same time. The question remains though, who is going to pay for it?

If Carole James has anything to do with this it won't be the people that use the service the most! Look out tax payer!

I don't take transit that often. My wife and usually car-pool and lately I've been trying to use my bike more to drag myself around to all the places I need to be. The fact is that transit, in its current state at least, doesn't really fit us that well and I can actually get to work about an hour quicker by riding a bike versus riding the bus. That said, I'm not really that bothered to see the transit levy on my monthly hydro bill. I don't mind a portion of the taxes I pay for fuel or anything else going to service Translink and to be completely honest, I wouldn't be that opposed to any future, moderate increases in taxes to help ensure an efficient and sustainable transit system leading into the future. I don't have a problem contributing...as long as the people who use the service do their part as well!

The notion that we can ever have "more buses, lower fares" (as groups like the Bus Riders Union would suggest) is absolutely absurd and I suspect that even people like Carole James, deep down understand this.

Carole James and the BC NDP can stand at as many skytrain stations or bus stops as they like and they can amass as many signatures as they like in the process. At the end of the day the obvious will remain, we need to spend a lot of money to improve our transit infrastructure... and no one rides for free!