this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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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.
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.
That nominal charge seems useless to prevent that specific issue, a daily bus pass is $5 and you can literally just get one from someone who no longer needs it for the day. I've given mine away. Even just begging will get you bus fare very quickly.
I'd rather they do something like "everyone off" when they hit the end of their line, which I believe mostly already happens. That means that people can't setup on a single bus for multiple hours, but still allows homeless to warm up if they need it for a bit.
Also, I don't really care if something "feels'" less safe, I care if it is less safe. I haven't heard that busses are particularly dangerous for anyone other than the bus drivers lately, the cameras are all installed now, and police do respond pretty quickly when something goes wrong.
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.