Since moving downtown I haven’t had much of a commute to work. Being that I’m starting a fancy new job tomorrow, I had to buy a monthly bus pass that will enable me to get to and from work. My future employer is across the bridge, I will need to hop on a bus. I can either walk to the far bus stop or get on a bus near my house and transfer to the other one. Whichever way I choose, I will be needing a pass.

On July 1, 2006, the Government of Canada began its program to offer individual Canadians a non-refundable tax credit to help cover the cost of monthly or longer duration public transit passes. Because it is a non-refundable tax credit, anyone who applies does not receive the money in the form of a refund. Instead, the amount claimed is multiplied by the lowest personal income tax rate for the year (15.25% in 2006) and then is deducted from the amount of tax owed for that year [TransitPass.ca]

I purchased a monthly 1-Zone pass from my local fare dealer and recently learned about the tax credits I can receive on my 2007 taxes next year. My mother’s known about this since the system first started last summer, so she’ll be adding them to her 2006 taxes. Although it’s not technically a “rebate”, I suppose the credit does help, along with warm fuzzies you’ll feel by knowing you’ve made the clean, environmentally conscious choice of riding public transit.

If you’ve been purchasing monthly bus passes just make sure you keep a) the receipt and b) the pass to make sure you can get your tax credit - every bit helps.

Georgia street was closed for most of today because of the Santa Claus Parade. I headed out to start my shift at work and arrived about 45 minutes later. Normally, it takes about 10 minutes to get to work if I take a bus and 20 if I walk.

The #5 Robson bus is usually pretty efficient, but today it had to take many detours - it turned right on Thurlow and went all the way down to Beach Ave. Crossed over Burrard and turned left up Seymour where it met up with its proper route. 30 minutes later and I’m off the bus, wondering why the heck I didn’t just WALK.

Along Robson there were people handing out popcorn at the Bell store, Starbucks was handing out free samples of gingerbread lattes and every street was packed with either parade goers, shoppers, and football fans. Everyone who just wanted to get out on a sunny afternoon - knowing that the rains will come again.

It being Grey Cup Sunday, we take a slight pause from being Canuck fans and remember that we’ve also got a pretty kick ass football team around here. (See John’s CFL post if you are unfamiliar with our ‘Mutant Form of Football’). Being the heavy favourites and league dominators this year, our boys came out on top. Now it’s time to plan another parade route, which will cause another crazy day of traffic downtown.

The Canucks face off tonight in Pay Per View action vs Chicago. Even though Alex Burrows will probably be broken-hearted, with his Alouettes losing today, they should be able to steamroll over the hawks with some of that momentum from Friday night.

As for me? 4 more hours of work to go…

Vancouverites complain about transit [mbv]. Bus drivers being rude, overcrowding, trolley buses falling off their overhead rails, and that ain’t the half of it. But when I think about taking the #5 (Robson) or #6 (Davie) downtown I think about how spoiled we are compared to every other transit-taker.

Recently, the federal government has dumped millions of dollars into Translink for security purposes [news1130] but how about just making sure that it’s an efficient, accessible system for all in the Lower Mainland?

First of all, I can walk everywhere downtown. I can walk to work or I can take a bus if I’m running late. We can walk to GM Place, to the store, to the beach or we can take a bus because, well they come every 5 minutes anyway. All those who do not have these options, have it the worst and most of them are out in the burbs.

I used to Skytrain to work every day. I knew that it would take exactly 47 minutes from the minute I stepped on the train at Gateway, to the time I walked out onto Granville street. Now, if anywhere in that equation I had to take a bus on the Surrey side, my travel time would vary from 1 hour to 90 minutes, who knows. My mother does a commute from Surrey Central to Burrard every single day. When she gets back to Surrey in the evenings buses are either non-existent, packed to the gills or 45 mins - an hour late. She lives about a 20 minute walk from the station but I don’t think anyone would want her to walk home, it’s not an option.

Buses in the burbs are scheduled between 10 & 90 minutes and that’s on a weekday. Don’t get me started on weekends. You have to precisely plan out your day or trip and just hope that the bus will actually show up. I’ve been waiting at a bus stop for 50 minutes, finally calling the transit information line and getting the “we can’t locate the driver” spiel. It’s happened several times before. Buses get caught in traffic, drivers go MIA and you just have to wait. Not everyone in the burbs owns a car. Seems like most people downtown can a) walk everywhere b) own a car or honkin’huge SUV c) can catch a bus every couple of minutes.

When we think about what kind of reforms we need on transit, how about making sure that the bulk of people traveling from the burbs, (Langley, Surrey, Burnaby, New West, Tri-Cities etc.) can get to work on time, get their kids from school, get groceries and be back home safe and sound.