The Official Transit Thread

[Columbo]

Of course they voted for it. Who wouldn't?

Entitlement programs are always popular so long as someone else is paying for them.

My point was, even students who live on campus and don't take transit every day still voted to keep the UPass, even though it adds to their tuition. The UPass is subsidized but it's not free.

[Common sense]

Of course they voted for it. Who wouldn't?

Entitlement programs are always popular so long as someone else is paying for them.

That contradicts your statement earlier saying that students living on rez don't use the UPass and thus don't need it

from your own fingers:

It punishes those that live on campus the most since where would you need to take transit to if you lived on campus other than maybe downtown once in a while?

Edited August 30, 2011 by blue.dragon258

[ronthecivil]

My point was, even students who live on campus and don't take transit every day still voted to keep the UPass, even though it adds to their tuition. The UPass is subsidized but it's not free.

Sure if I could get a 30 dollar a month three zone pass I would, even if I still drove to work everyday, it would still be worth it!

Granted they probably aren't getting as much as a subsidy as the people that bus in from the outer suburbs (or better yet drive in, park at point grey, and bus in for the last 5% of the trip.)

[Violator]

My point was, even students who live on campus and don't take transit every day still voted to keep the UPass, even though it adds to their tuition. The UPass is subsidized but it's not free.

Don't people sell there upass.That and chances are those people can still use it for free transit and discounts at places.

[ronthecivil]

That contradicts your statement earlier saying that students living on rez don't use the UPass and thus don't need it

They were probably among consistant sellers.

And they don't NEED it, but hey, who wouldn't want a thirty dollar a month three zone pass? One return trip a week and it's payed for.

Meanwhile translink is broke seems odd to actual give a discount to what amounts to a captive crowd. With parking so expensive the studants these days are forced to take transit. That's a lot of lost revenue!

[Guest Voucer]

I'm a student who uses transit five times a week to commute to school. This includes several transfers and cross-zone traveling from Vancouver to Burnaby Mountain. The UPass is incredibly beneficial to students such as myself.

Additionally, this means I can take transit whenever I want.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Voucer

[Weber's Playoff Beard]

Well Translink wants increased use. With the Upass, they get increased usage by students. Like I said, increased use is a good thing. That's why Translink continues to fund it.

And you say well whether they fund it or not, people will still be taking transit to school. They may but they won't be taking transit when they go other places, say the mall, fitness centre, grocery store, library, etc. Translink wants students to use transit more often so that it can become a part of their lifestyle in the future. That's why Translink has no problem funding it.

Then you may ask, why not subsidize all people who are between 18-22 years old whether or not they are attending a post secondary institution. That is because it is less likely that these people would be using transit as often, as they aren't guaranteed to take min 10 trips per week. Which means less likely to buy a monthly pass, which means upass doesn't benefit them, so they don't bother subsidizing it. If they felt that it would benefit people ages 18-22 who don't go to school, they may even subsidize those that buy monthly passes.

[aGENT]

Well Translink wants increased use. With the Upass, they get increased usage by students. Like I said, increased use is a good thing. That's why Translink continues to fund it.

And you say well whether they fund it or not, people will still be taking transit to school. They may but they won't be taking transit when they go other places, say the mall, fitness centre, grocery store, library, etc. Translink wants students to use transit more often so that it can become a part of their lifestyle in the future. That's why Translink has no problem funding it.

Then you may ask, why not subsidize all people who are between 18-22 years old whether or not they are attending a post secondary institution. That is because it is less likely that these people would be using transit as often, as they aren't guaranteed to take min 10 trips per week. Which means less likely to buy a monthly pass, which means upass doesn't benefit them, so they don't bother subsidizing it. If they felt that it would benefit people ages 18-22 who don't go to school, they may even subsidize those that buy monthly passes.

I could see it as a sales incentive. Give a little now to gain a customer for life...Fair point. Sort of the same method drug dealers use! "First hit is free"

[ronthecivil]

Well Translink wants increased use. With the Upass, they get increased usage by students. Like I said, increased use is a good thing. That's why Translink continues to fund it.

And you say well whether they fund it or not, people will still be taking transit to school. They may but they won't be taking transit when they go other places, say the mall, fitness centre, grocery store, library, etc. Translink wants students to use transit more often so that it can become a part of their lifestyle in the future. That's why Translink has no problem funding it.

Then you may ask, why not subsidize all people who are between 18-22 years old whether or not they are attending a post secondary institution. That is because it is less likely that these people would be using transit as often, as they aren't guaranteed to take min 10 trips per week. Which means less likely to buy a monthly pass, which means upass doesn't benefit them, so they don't bother subsidizing it. If they felt that it would benefit people ages 18-22 who don't go to school, they may even subsidize those that buy monthly passes.

Four to six years of being crammed into the 99 Bline would encourage me to buy a car and drive the first chance I could get.

It's a pretty dubious investment. Is there any truth to this so called transit training? Have they studied it? What's the return on investment?

Translink might have no problem funding it but I have a problem giving translink additional funding when there's entitlement programs all over the place that could be cut. Capiche paisano?

And I am FAR from the only one. There's a reason the mayors tread lightly on this gas tax hike.

[ronthecivil]

I could see it as a sales incentive. Give a little now to gain a customer for life...Fair point. Sort of the same method drug dealers use! "First hit is free"

Being jammed onto the 99 Bline with 150 or so sweaty wet bodies in a fogged up bus for six months a year IS pretty addictive!

[Common sense]

Being jammed onto the 99 Bline with 150 or so sweaty wet bodies in a fogged up bus for six months a year IS pretty addictive!

$20,000 car + $1000 insurance/yr + $50-60 gas/2weeks + $300 maintenance is also pretty addictive.

[ronthecivil]

$20,000 car + $1000 insurance/yr + $50-60 gas/2weeks + $300 maintenance is also pretty addictive.

That's the beauty of not being in school, you have a lot more money and a lot less time.

Besides, once your in the real world, you have to spend $110 a month for a two zone pass and that assumes you can carry food and other essential from the store instead of taking them on the bus.

TLDR you get what you pay for. And neither is cheap.

[Common sense]

That's the beauty of not being in school, you have a lot more money and a lot less time.

Besides, once your in the real world, you have to spend $110 a month for a two zone pass and that assumes you can carry food and other essential from the store instead of taking them on the bus.

TLDR you get what you pay for. And neither is cheap.

so why not do what the suburban yuppies are doing and use both? 2-zone bus pass and a small sedan like a Corolla?

[ronthecivil]

I'm a student who uses transit five times a week to commute to school. This includes several transfers and cross-zone traveling from Vancouver to Burnaby Mountain. The UPass is incredibly beneficial to students such as myself.

Additionally, this means I can take transit whenever I want.

Of course services being provided to you and paid for by others are beneficial! Why would anyone deny that?

[ronthecivil]

so why not do what the suburban yuppies are doing and use both? 2-zone bus pass and a small sedan like a Corolla?

IF (and it's a giant IF since this has been promised before) they run BLine service to White Rock then I will take the Bline to work and canucks games and then trade my truck in for an even bigger one since I will barely drive after that.

But given the budget shortfalls I am certainly not counting on it.

Keep in mind that right now even a drive to the skytrain and skytrain is longer than driving all the way (though when school comes back that might not be the case).

To truely beat driving they need the money to HOV King George and run the Bline buses in that (which was the plan at least five years ago, how's that coming along?). However they have a budge crunch and their only solution is to charge me more while anyone going to post secondary gets a 80-150 dollar a month pass for thirty.

[VanJets]

So we're attacking students at a University because they receive a subsidized cost for a transit pass?

[ahzdeen]

So we're attacking students at a University because they receive a subsidized cost for a transit pass?

No one's attacking the students. Why wouldn't you want a free pass? Instead, they're questioning translink's decision to subsidize these passes when they're always complaining about not having enough money.

Edited August 31, 2011 by ahzdeen

[Weber's Playoff Beard]

No one's attacking the students. Why wouldn't you want a free pass? Instead, they're questioning translink's decision to subsidize these passes when they're always complaining about not having enough money.

That summarizes the last few pages of this thread..

I ran out of points to argue about so let's talk about something else...

From wikipedia:

The SFU Community Trust has proposed extending the TransLink system from this station through the installation of a tri-cable gondola lift to travel up Burnaby Mountain to the SFU Transit Exchange. The proposed lift would use a 30 passenger Doppelmayr Garaventa 3S Gondola, the same model as theWhistler Blackcomb Peak 2 Peak Gondola. The Trust has proposed the gondola because it feels the system is not weather-dependent like the current buses, it is also cheaper to maintain, and is more environmentally friendly. The provincial government has commissioned a feasibility study for the proposal; if approved by the province and Translink, the lift could be operational by 2014.

Good to hear!

From wikipedia:

On January 14, 2008, the BC government announced a commitment to the expansion of the Millennium Line to UBC by 2020 as part of a $14 billion transit spending package to address global warming. It was not initially clear exactly what route the new line would take, but it was hinted that there would be less use of cut-and-cover to minimize disruption to businesses along Broadway and avoid the same problems seen during the Canada Line construction along Cambie Street.

I hear COV hired some people to plan out the route after they finished consultation with members of the public.

Oh and too bad Translink doesn't have money, otherwise they could've changed the 43 Express UBC bus to 91 Bline and the 135 SFU express to 95 bline a few years ago. Blines make things so much more efficient.. except if it's running on Broadway because that's way over capacity.

And the Compass cards. Can't wait to try them out.. but I'm more excited about them introducing a distance based system in the future. We can finally catch up to the rest of the world. This 90 min fare thing is terrible and just doesn't cut it.

The turnstiles, I'm not willing to start that argument again...

Can't wait. So exciting to see so many new things happening to our transit system!

[ronthecivil]

That summarizes the last few pages of this thread..

I ran out of points to argue about so let's talk about something else...

From wikipedia:

Good to hear!

From wikipedia:

I hear COV hired some people to plan out the route after they finished consultation with members of the public.

Oh and too bad Translink doesn't have money, otherwise they could've changed the 43 Express UBC bus to 91 Bline and the 135 SFU express to 95 bline a few years ago. Blines make things so much more efficient.. except if it's running on Broadway because that's way over capacity.

And the Compass cards. Can't wait to try them out.. but I'm more excited about them introducing a distance based system in the future. We can finally catch up to the rest of the world. This 90 min fare thing is terrible and just doesn't cut it.

The turnstiles, I'm not willing to start that argument again...

Can't wait. So exciting to see so many new things happening to our transit system!

Goldalas up to SFU and especially skytrain to UBC make a lot of sense. Not sure how much the Gondala would go for but skytrain to UBC would cost in the 2 billion dollar region. As you may have noted they have no way to fund even modest things like their portion of a cheaper extension to coquitlam or my long awaited bline to white rock. So they need to fund it somehow and that would be above and beyond the two cents extra on gas they are already looking for.

That said let's pretend since these are capital projects that could actually save translink money since it would free up buses that currently serve those very busy routes. Better do some serious lobbying of the feds and province!

As for how to do the route to UBC? Well, I suppose it won't be ALL cut and cover, since you would need to do bored tunnels in some areas due to grades and it could be areal along the tracks before going into the hill. Would also need a bored tunnel to get up the hill past alma I would suspect. But the vast majority of the line will be cut and cover on tenth. Since that's a side street much less disruption (well to the businesses) and afterwards they can turn it into local only parking access while making it primarily a greenway (which would be pretty nice to live along IMO) afterwards. If they did that the only disruption to traffic would be at the main north south arterials and that's going to happen even with a borded tunnel due to station construction.

[VanJets]

Translink not having enough money has little to do with the subsidy they give to students at universities.