I would not be surprised if fare increases were an honest attempt to reduce ridership which has grown at the same rate as population in spite of all their measures to decrease it. The current system can’t handle the current ridership and i could believe they are raising fares to try to keep more people at home.

I suspect all of this could have been avoided if the G.V.R.D.’s transit was still in the hands of BC Transit, instead of creating Translink to run not just transit but roads, bridges etc, without subsidizing them necessarily to cover those costs. Give the roads etc, back to the government organizations responsible and use Translink money to buy the desperately needed buses and possibly bring in Light Rail or other cheaper than Skytrain alternatives.

Also we need to subsidize the cost for the poorest people, or reduce the fares for everyone. At this point a family of four (two adults, two kids older than 5) pays $17.50 for 1.5hours through three zones, if going closer (and hopefully not crossing zone boundaries) $8.50 minimum and unless you can do your work, chores, shopping, visiting or whatever other reason you went on this trip in under 1.5hours including the ride there(!), your paying the same price to get home. My family is middle class and thats a cost i am not willing to accept i can only imagine what it’s like for our poorest community members.

The saddest fact of all is that my whole family can catch a cab downtown for $5+ depending on traffic and were downtown we want dropped off; and the ride is fast, from door to door and very comfortable. For transit the ride is slow, uncomfortable, we have to walk to train or bus (often through areas with high congestion of vehicle and pedestrian traffic largely due to our inefficient system) and it costs $8.50 (and I’m sure another rise before the 2010). Really easy being green here, eh?

I agree, Vancouver has a lot of expansion to do to even come close to practically any other urban city in the world’s systems. And, it’s really expensive.

But, at least we get a tax break now, if you save your receipts… That’s something. Not much, but something.

“TransLink is continuing to make major investments in our region’s public transit network to improve travel times, access and safety for transit customers.”

Didn’t they promise this last time they hiked our fares. Why we’re lining their pockets, I have no idea. I wouldn’t doubt what Tyler said above. When you look at a place like LA, where the fare is the same no matter where you travel in the region, it makes me wonder why it’s so different here.

*cough*cough*2010*cough*cough*

Don’t get me started on Translink rants. Take a look at other North American transit systems or even European ones and you’ll see that Vancouver has a lot of work up ahead still.

Vancouver is the most expensive place to take transit in Canada…. but a lot of people tell me that it’s one of the worst transit systems now in Canada.