Dave at Human Powered sums it up quite nicely, in addition to providing a number of statistics to back up his arguments.

That’s a 40% increase at the farebox; the ever-helpful Bank of Canada tells me that inflation over this period has been less than 16%, meaning fares have gone up 2 and half times faster than everything else.

The only new buses that have come since any of the fare increases in 2000, 2002, and 2005 are replacement buses that were needed 10 years ago.

This time, TransLink heralds the largest bus expansion in 31 years (better sit down for this one): 90 buses. That’s not even 10% of what we have already and a far cry from those earlier promises.

That would all be bad enough, but now TransLink is trying to brainwash us into thinking that Transit Service equals Fares. Want more Service? Pay more Fares. Want Peace? Go to War. Want freedom? Give up your Rights. TransLink is spinning with the best.

He also brings up an interesting perspective I rarely think of - that of a family:

If you’re a parent in the ‘burbs, I bet you’re not going to bring your 3 kids with you into the City by bus. That would put you back at least $30; gas still doesn’t cost that much and there is lots of free parking to be had.

Meanwhile, Nice Vancouver asks what to do with FareSaver passes bought in ‘07:

I bought a book of FareSaver Tickets a month before the fares were increased. I know in Ottawa if the bus fare and ticket fares go up you can continue to use your “old” bus tickets until they are gone…meaning if you have like 2 sheets of bus tickets at $0.90 you can continue to use them until they are gone even if the ticket price is $0.95.

So, what’s a typical Joe to do? Well, Dave gives three proposals (all of which are more than palpable), with my commentary afterwards. I don’t necessarily endorse these options, but ideas are ideas nonetheless. :

  1. Stop paying fares. It’s a mixed bag, but most bus drivers don’t care. Half don’t even check nowadays.
  2. Share your tickets. Sharing encourages community, gives the poor another option to evading fares, and is nice to others…
  3. Get a ticket from the Transit Police and challenge it in court. Actually, you don’t even need to challenge it. If you are a regular transit rider, there’s not much they can do to make you pay it (they usually bring it up before driver’s licence renewal). Besides, the trick is to not carry ID, and then send the ticket to “James Green”. The money goes into provincial coffers by the way, so it’s not like there’s even any incentive for TransLink to actually ensure you do pay, nor does the money go back into your transit system.
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