YEG Bus Rider
Active Member
Aligned with regular youth, equitable age-based discount.
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ETS Bus and General Transit Improvements
- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
trevorhayden
Active Member
Seniors are much wealthier than young people. So this change makes sense. And if they are vulnerable, they can order the low income pass.
Edmcowboy11
Senior Member
Personally I really do like the arc system. I'm not taking the bus or train all the time. So it doesn't make sense for me to have a monthly bus pass. But whenever I do need to take transit. If I don't have a balance on my arc card, I can just go online and top up the balance. This is saved me from having to go by bus tickets when I've run out.
I do understand the issue of driving as opposed to taking the bus or train. But I have to laugh about the cost. Even a monthly bus pass is only around the hundred some dollars, but that is it. As we know in comparison to drive a car or truck. There is the cost of gas. Which I challenge anyone out there to say that they only spend a $130 on gas a month.
Plus there is the fact of parking in the downtown core. Either you have to park very large distance away for free parking or you have to pay to park. And then there's also the fact of traffic going in and out of the downtown for the University or really anywhere during rush hour. And yes, I know try telling that to the guy in the big pickup truck all by himself, sitting in traffic during rush hour and he'll still say that it's better to be in his own vehicle even though he's probably spent far far more money on gas, and parking and auto maintenance than buying one bus pass.
I do understand the issue of driving as opposed to taking the bus or train. But I have to laugh about the cost. Even a monthly bus pass is only around the hundred some dollars, but that is it. As we know in comparison to drive a car or truck. There is the cost of gas. Which I challenge anyone out there to say that they only spend a $130 on gas a month.
Plus there is the fact of parking in the downtown core. Either you have to park very large distance away for free parking or you have to pay to park. And then there's also the fact of traffic going in and out of the downtown for the University or really anywhere during rush hour. And yes, I know try telling that to the guy in the big pickup truck all by himself, sitting in traffic during rush hour and he'll still say that it's better to be in his own vehicle even though he's probably spent far far more money on gas, and parking and auto maintenance than buying one bus pass.
The_Cat
Senior Member
Learning the transit system takes time and effort. Some people (for whatever reason) refuse to take LRT, even though it offers savings that @Edmcowboy11 listed. A lot of the thinking about commuting and driving is based on long-standing beliefs..
YegMark
New Member
This is true if you're commuting downtown daily or if you can avoid owning a car by relying on transit. It falls apart a bit if you're going anytime off-peak, weekends, etc. Given that I already own a car, it's way cheaper to drive downtown and pay the couple of dollars to park than to pay $3.50 it will cost each way per person. If I wanted to go for supper downtown with 4 people from Bonnie Doon that would cost me $2 in gas (or less) and $3 to park for a couple hours. That same trip would cost me $7/person to take the LRT ($28 total), and would take me at least 10 more minutes than driving. I know costs and times will vary depending on where you're coming from and going to, but for me this really shrinks the use-case of the LRT down even further. I'll probably only take it to go to Oilers games or the odd crowded downtown event. For everything else, driving just makes way more sense.
thommyjo
Senior Member
The challenge is that most households struggle to ditch cars altogether. Most still need at least 1, or one for evenings/weekends vs consistent commutes.
Which makes the $100 actually a huge cost on top of vehicle costs (most of which are pretty fixed: insurance, tires, vehicle cost).
The cost of a trip in your vehicle for just the gas is always cheaper vs transit and likely way faster. So unless transit is affordable, people won’t use.
And in terms of parking, a few things work against it: 1) parking is cheaper as soon as you have 2 or more people on the vehicle. 2) many people working downtown have parking passes through work. 3) parking is less of a cost with 2-3 days in office for many now vs 5 days. If parking is $5 more a day, it might only be $40 more a month now vs $120 more.
Habibfazil
Active Member
There's another issue that needs looking at:
Last Friday a passenger boards and asks the operator if she can get a free ride as she needs to cash her cheque, and away we go...
I've seen this multiple before where the operator just lets them on. The odd operator says something like "well pay double next trip"
Is this "free ride" a policy? Who/when did it go into effect?
dkazzed
Active Member
For safety reasons, drivers are not to intervene if passengers don't want to pay for a fare. They could however at their discretion notify security who may send peace officers. Whether the peace officers get there in time to intervene/enforce is probably why they don't bother unless it's a more serious issue than not paying a fare.
northlands
Senior Member
One time back in 7th grade I was short on change trying to jump on the 99 from Capilano mall. Driver said he'd only let me on if I sang him a country song. Didn't know any so he kicked me off.
So add that one to the list: extorting performances in lieu of bus fare.
SarcasticMarmot
Active Member
So the country road couldn't take you home to the place where you belonged?
- I will see myself out.....
Habibfazil
Active Member
Agreed, it's not worth getting attacked, and the security response times are slowwwww
Platinum107
Senior Member
This entire issue is a symptom of the way our society has viewed and continues to view public transit. It is always held to an unfair standard in comparison to cars and roadways specifically.
Most people who live here think transit is an unnecessary social welfare system that, somehow at the same time, needs to generate revenue to justify its existence. Roads, on the other hand, are necessary, must be free for everyone to use, and must be maintained no matter the cost. This is so unfair, and leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy where public transit users need to struggle with the dilemma of higher fares vs. less frequency and coverage, whereas drivers can keep doing their thing without having to worry about what's happening externally. I guess its only natural that most people think like this, since they've known owning a car and driving as the only reliable way to do anything and go anywhere, which is true if you live outside of Edmonton's urban core.
Public transit should be free as well, or roads should generate revenue on a per-person basis for the government. Either is a form of leveling the playing field here.
P.S.: "Drivers have to pay for gas, insurance, and do pay taxes! This makes it fair!" - Driving a car creates negative externalities which directly harm the environment, strain the public healthcare system, and lead to less social cohesion and productivity on a societal level. Public transit isn't perfect, for sure, but its positive externalities justify it costing measurably less than using a car.
Most people who live here think transit is an unnecessary social welfare system that, somehow at the same time, needs to generate revenue to justify its existence. Roads, on the other hand, are necessary, must be free for everyone to use, and must be maintained no matter the cost. This is so unfair, and leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy where public transit users need to struggle with the dilemma of higher fares vs. less frequency and coverage, whereas drivers can keep doing their thing without having to worry about what's happening externally. I guess its only natural that most people think like this, since they've known owning a car and driving as the only reliable way to do anything and go anywhere, which is true if you live outside of Edmonton's urban core.
Public transit should be free as well, or roads should generate revenue on a per-person basis for the government. Either is a form of leveling the playing field here.
P.S.: "Drivers have to pay for gas, insurance, and do pay taxes! This makes it fair!" - Driving a car creates negative externalities which directly harm the environment, strain the public healthcare system, and lead to less social cohesion and productivity on a societal level. Public transit isn't perfect, for sure, but its positive externalities justify it costing measurably less than using a car.
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YEG Bus Rider
Active Member
SarcasticMarmot
Active Member
Took the train today and Peace Officers actually checked fares on the train I was on. Looked like they had a machine to check ARC cards but they weren't using it. All I had to do was show them my ARC card (which I had actually tapped this time) and they moved on. Validating my theory that as long as you carry a card you can get on without paying.
David A
Senior Member
I think some people should be careful what they wish for. Increasing transit fares may push more people paying regular fares and using it to driving, adding even more congestion to our roads.
It could then also lead to a death spiral for transit leaving only the low paying or no paying passengers remaining to try cover the cost, which is not going to work either.