Weber's Playoff Beard
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Posts posted by Weber's Playoff Beard
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Tyrion is so good.
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CANT WAIT!
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Well saving 4500 on rent means you would still have lots left over even after spring for a 3 zone bus pass should you need one.
There's even more amenities than when I went and I managed fine. Even if you took a bus to 10th/Blanca how often do you need to go grocery shopping, once a week? You can use the same transfer to get back!
And if were trying to save money for translink, which last I checked was a the local transporation service and not a branch of the ministry of education, why provide a subsidy? That's the wrong branch of government.
If UBC wants premium transit service they can pay for it just like anyone else!
And if you really want to make life easy for studants and save the traffic employ the "live close to work" model and provide enough housing so that you don't have 75% commuters and you might actually have enough customers to have more services right on campus! This model of the one price fits all where someone commuting from surrey daily pays the same as an on campus person that leaves once a month actually encourages long commutes which last I check is the opposite of good transporation policy!!!!!
Money doesn't grow on trees.
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Instead of the next bus system, they should have a map showing you where the next bus is currently at along with the approx time the next bus will arrive.
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My pet peeve: buses that are 5-6 mins early. This problem seems avoidable since all the driver needs to do is leave their starting stop when they are suppose to. Obviously the arrival times are not going to be perfect and there are not always many passengers, but over 5 mins early is a lot. I use the NextBus system, usaully I arrive at the stop 5mins before the time their text message tells me. Last time I arrive 6 mins early but I see the bus leave the stop. Just my little rant.
One of my pet peeves... I'm sitting on the bus. Bus stops at a stop. The driver turns off the engine. Driver says I'm early. Bus sits there for almost ten minutes. Deadly silent in the bus. Twiddling my thumbs.
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If people didn't drive or drove less they would take a huge hit in revenue since they get a lot of it from gas taxes. And while they do spend some money on roads it pales in comparision to the amount spent on transit or even the amount collected from said drivers.
Why would canceling the Upass be a step backwards? It's not like studants don't need to get to UBC anyways. Why should off campus studants be subsidised by the on campus studants so that they can live with mom and dad? Why should anyone be subsidising this one subset of the travelling public? I can see why there could be arguments to making life easier for studants but that's a provincial responsibility not the responsibility of the local transit authority (which is in a funding crisis last I checked).
View this: http://www.translink...%20summary.ashx
They need to spend money on roads. Even if it "pales" in comparison, money is money.
True that if less people drove they would get less revenue. But if less people drove, more people would take transit. More people taking transit would show that more funding for transit is needed. The federal, provincial, and municipal government would then be willing to hand over more money to fund projects.
Because if there wasn't a upass, more people would be driving to UBC. Yes, there would be people bussing but there would also be more people driving to UBC. Also, like someone else stated before, Translink is hoping that this will help more people adopt a public transit lifestyle instead of driving everywhere.
And if more people grow up not driving their hummers everywhere then maybe this planet can become sustainable.
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That's a pretty dubious investment especially given that most bus routes operate at a loss. I suppose it's an improvement from the even bigger loss of when the UPass is in session.
But that aside why should people that don't even live in the region in the summer have to subsidise people that do? It's bad enough that people that actually get the benefit of the program are those that live far off campus and commute there. If we really wanted to encourage something sustainable we would build more studant housing on campus and the studants could live where they "work".
I am actually curious as to how much the UPass program costs translink and perhaps we should be looking to cancelling it instead of simply resorting to the old "toss more money at the problem". The transporation world doesn't resolve around studants!
Cancelling the upass is a huge step backwards. Translink also has to pay for repairing roads and building infrastructure like the Golden Ears Bridge. Perhaps if people didn't drive.. or less people drove.. they wouldn't have to invest so much money on fixing roads and building bridges...
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Semin to Vancouver. LOL are you kidding me. We're near the cap already plus Washington wants something decent in return. We have nothing decent to give. Washington's pushing for the cup, they don't want picks for Semin.
He thinks Nashville is interested in Semin as well. Nashville doesn't even want to pay Weber a decent salary, what makes you think they can afford Semin...
Eklund is full of BS. You should allow hockeybuzz but ban Eklund rumours.
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It's views like these that absolutely do nothing for the nation. "Does this plan help me?". There's a famous JFK quote out there; "...ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
Isn't that what the whole HST debate is about...
Because the HST does not help me.. but it helps the Province of BC.
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How about viewing it as a toll that gets bridge users to pay the true cost of the roads they use?
People who use transit put less stress on the roads, less pollution in the air, typically take up less space (lots in Vancouver are much smaller than out in the valley for the same cost), travel less distance, and don't need bridges to do their commute.
It't not perfect, but it charges the users of the system a fare for using said system. I wonder what the maintenance budget for the roads and bridges is in the GVRD, and what percentage of that is covered directly by users (i.e. tolls).
I dont have a problem if they toll everything as long as it's a dollar or less.. or something reasonable. $2.90 is unreasonable.
$2.90 x 2 times per day x 21 weekdays give or take = $121.80/month
$122/month x 12 months = $1464.. that's a lot of money..
Whereas if the toll was $1 each way.. it would cost the user approximately 1/3 which is $500 a year. This is still a lot but significantly less. However, the government will be seeing the revenue less by 2/3 but tolling all bridges would punish everyone. Yes, I'm using the word punish. Oh and people taking the bus crossing over the bridge don't have to pay the toll.
Or... they could just increase the tax on gas.. and that would reduce the outrage compared to announcing that all bridges will now be tolled.
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I am not a fan of this decision to install turnstiles. The people who are evading fares probably aren't going to be riding anyway now that they are installed and if they really want to, they will just jump the gate. I don't think the increased sales will make up the cost but lets hope for the best. I would rather they just hire more Translink staff (not transit police because they cost too much) to check for tickets.
I think that public washrooms would be a terrible idea. Its not going to increase ridership by much if at all. These washrooms will also be incredible dirty unless constantly cleaned and imagine the cost of that.
I'm pretty confident that they aren't going to recover the costs of the turnstiles. I'm still for turnstiles though as it comes with the introduction of the smartcard.
And there aren't enough Translink staff to begin with.. I rarely if ever get my ticket checked on skytrain. They either have staff at every station or use faregates.
It's too late to discuss that now though... they're already installing them.
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Like I'm thinking just like a room with a toilet inside. It would be nice to have especially for stations that are in the middle of no where.
Nice to know about Jugo Juice.
Then someone could just sleep in there.. like Will smith did with his son in the pursuit of happiness.. or even worse.. people could be doing drugs, etc.
In a more technical standpoint, I think the costs of having to pipe everything so that water can reach that part of station would be extremely expensive.
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They have good chicken wraps there.
how much $?
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So with this talk of installing turnstiles, will washrooms be apart of the million dollar upgrades. It be nice if they did finally.
I believe there were concerns that they would attract crime and drug use, but I don't see the problem now with turnstiles and they are placed behind them.
and who maintains them? They will not be a part of the upgrades. Interesting suggestion though. I never though about it. But.. if they had washrooms, I would be scared to even use a washroom at a skytrain station... dont know what's lurking behind the door.
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I think this deserves a bump. Sadly, it's in July.
pouring...
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-ignore this-
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If your a homeless guy on the train, what are they going to do, toss you in free accomidation? And besides the derelicts that ride for free will just panhande/steal their way onto a train.
If you happen to get on a bus that won't move with that bus driver wait for the next bus then. It's not like if your a bum your in a hurry. Or teach him/her a lesson and rough them up a bit. What are they going to do, give you a couple month free accomidation? I would be pretty anxious to test any desperate person wanting on the bus when fall rolls around. Bums and derelicts aren't going to give up and walk that's for sure, nor are they going to stop travelling as needed any more than you or I do.
And it's fairly simply to figure out the number of evaders. You only enter the train right before the doors close, and if you see people jumping out, you detain them. In fact that's what they do. If it's that problematic go plainclothes inspection for a while. If the number is unrealiable find a better way to test it rather than simply tossing up your hands and opting to mindlessly spend money.
And while there are benefits to more intelligent ways of collecting fares, it's still the total fare that affects revenue as much as it effects ridership. For every new person you get that didn't want to pay two zones to go one stop over the border of a zone you could loose one that was going from one edge to the other within a zone. Never mind that it greatly complicates the fare structure (and inevitably increases it) and requires you to yard yet another freaking card around.
No, you don't go to jail for not paying your fare... You're right. Same with jaywalking. A cop gives a ticket to a homeless man for jaywalking.. now what? I don't see your argument.
The turnstiles will cause most of the fare evaders to pay the fare. I don't see how you can argue against that.
I don't believe the fare evasion figure they have. I don't have anything to support my argument.
That's why the turnstiles in addition to the smartcard system is a good thing. It will increase ridership. It will bring more safety to stations. It will give some stations much needed renos. It will introduce a distance based system. It will be tap on tap off RFID technology based, making everything more advanced and simpler. It doesn't complicate the fare structure.. every other major city in the world uses distance-based. We're behind the times, that's the truth. Having no turnstiles at stations also puts us behind the times. It's not yet another card for people who use monthly fare cards. The smartcard is also a benefit for people who use faresavers. It only isn't a benefit for people who rarely use transit, i.e. when it snows and they don't want to drive to work. However, for those people, they'll have one use RFID compass smartcards. They'll have one use cards most likely where you receive a card when u purchase it, then at the exit gate, it eats your ticket. maybe. I'm not sure about single use, but I'm almost confident that for people who rarely use transit that they won't have another card in their wallet. Monthly pass gets replaced by compass card. Faresaver tickets get replaced by Compass card. Upass hopefully gets replaced by compass card. You should see the stack of faresavers I have, it's ridiculous. I rather have a Compass card than have like 300 faresavers on my table after two years. Yes, I keep all my faresavers.
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Why wouldn't you beleive the figure? Every time I have seen a check there's maybe one bum on the train that doesn't have the fare. And I have seen a lot of random fare checks....
If you think young punks or bums (majority of fare evaders) are going to suddenly stop riding transit and/or pay up you have to be kidding yourself. The bums in particular will laugh off your exit guards when they try to get them to pay a full fare for jumping the other gate. What are they going to do, threaten them with free accomidation for the night!
I suppose if you went heavy all out guard you would eventually get the revenue as they would loiter around the station bumming for fare and they could get it from other travellers.
Or they will simply ride the bus for free since anyone knows you can just walk on a bus for free if you want to.
Good luck laughing off the exit guards.
If you meet the right bus driver, they will not move the bus until the person who didn't pay the fare gets off. I've seen it happen and I've felt the tension on the whole bus. The nonpaying customer could choose to pay the fare, get off the bus, or have transit authorities drag them off the bus. Their choice.
You can't believe the 5% figure because there's no way of knowing how much % fare evades. All of this is a guess based on the number of checks they do. The figure could be off by a lot. When the person sees a transit guy come on to check tickets, they could get off. Or for the transit guys that stand at the top of escalators, people could buy a ticket only when they see that a transit person is checking tickets. The figure is inaccurate.
In addition, I personally don't think they can recouperate the costs of the faregates. However, the implementation of the smartcard with the faregates is a very good thing. The smartcard should have been implemented a long time ago. RFID technology in the smartcard makes everything run better.
You're saying in other words, that people are going to fare evade and jump the turnstiles. That's true, there are going to be. But why have laws or any rules in the world if not everyone is going to obey them? Because most people will obey them.
Are the majority of people going to jump the turnstiles? No. Will some people? Definitely.
This can apply to anything. What's the point of speeding laws if people are going to speed anyways unless there's a cop or speed camera on every street and highway? Honestly, who has never sped on a highway.
What's the point of shoplifting laws if people are still going to shoplift unless there is a security guard at each aisle in a grocery store.
Of course there's going to be people who go against the law, but the majority will obey the turnstiles. Go to other country with turnstiles. Most people are civilized enough to obey the laws.
I thought of another one. Why have the handsfree cellphone laws while driving when so many people aren't obeying it? The law is to protect other innocent people who will become victims from this person's poor decision to use their cellphone and drive.. but there's still people who aren't obeying it.
The turnstiles aren't useless. Stop trying to make them out to be.
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I wonder if these gates are also designed not to let you out, if you didn't pay the appropriate fare to ride to that particular station.
Well in other places... if you try to swipe/scan out but the computer hasn't recorded that you swiped in.. or after like a couple hours the computer sees that you swiped in but never swiped out.. you get charged the max fare.. so depending on how Translink does it.. that could be $10 or something.
So say someone jumps the entrance turnstile. At the exit turnstile, there's a cop/guard there, then they tell the guy who doesn't have a card/chip to have to pay the max fare. I think that's how it works in other places in the world.
That's assuming they have both entrance and exit turnstiles. I think that's the best way and the way I would do it.
Edit: after reading your posts.. I think if Translink is really going cheap.. they only need a transit guy at the exit gate. You gotta swipe out otherwise pay full fare.
They are doing entrance and exit gates right? Can someone confirm or deny that?
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A gate at the top of the ascending staircase would inconvenience thou fairest riders. There be numerous locations of ascension above the thieves' burden; Waterfront, Granville and Burrard are those. If be doors at hell's depths, an exploit perhaps may reveal itself to those wits who dare cheat thy governance.
If a gate be at the top, perhaps foresee thou most unprepared dolt ruffling his sac to prepare his self; what if a man be unprepared or intoxicated by death's lovely drink. It would halt progress and condemn all of thy fair servants to a hellish struggle for survival.
... thou could avoid thy horrible doom if the forbidden quarters be extended beyond thy stairway to supernatural transportation.
In addition, Commercial-Broadway in no manner be represented by thine ghoulish portrait.
Can I sparknotes this? I stopped reading after the first paragraph.
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Are the majority of people going to jump the turnstiles? No. Will some people? Definitely.
This can apply to anything. What's the point of speeding laws if people are going to speed anyways unless there's a cop or speed camera on every street and highway? Honestly, who has never sped on a highway.
What's the point of shoplifting laws if people are still going to shoplift unless there is a security guard at each aisle in a grocery store.
Of course there's going to be people who go against the law, but the majority will obey the turnstiles. Go to other country with turnstiles. Most people are civilized enough to obey the laws.
We need the turnstiles. They should have been implemented 10 years ago. You tell people in the rest of the world that we don't have turnstiles and expect people to buy tickets, and they'll laugh at you. I say as Canadians, we respect the law more than other people in the world. With the turnstiles come the smartcard. With the smartcard comes hopefully a distance based system. This zone based system is ridiculous and a ripoff.
My we should have turnstiles argument is weak, I know.
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Needs to use Google.
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any minute now...
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UBC Line.. get it going already.
The Official Transit Thread
in Off-Topic General
Posted · Edited by HeChats
Like I said. Money doesn't grow on trees. Where do you think the money is going to come from to build all these condos.
And no, If you live in Whalley, it'll take you an extra min. 1.5hrs each way. Why waste 3 hours on a bus when a student could be studying. It's UBC buddy not high school.
Objectives of Upass:
A: The objectives of the new U-Pass BC Program are to:
Source: http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/Student-Passes/U-Pass/U-Pass-FAQ.aspx#objectives