Would you drive a bus for $18/hour? There are a lot less stressful jobs in the private sector that pay more than $18/hour.

The Canada Line is privatized, but people complain because they don't run enough trains during off-peak times. You can't win either way.

^^ that's cost all the CEO and higher ups are taking 90% of the revenue as their bonus.

if you were a high school drop-out or only completed grade 12, would you drive a bus for $18/hour? Then again, this isn't always the case...

BCIT needs UPASS

wow..not again

No, I could work as a labourer for the city, or I could work on a construction site and make similar money without people spitting in my face, or without the homeless people.

Bus drivers have a peak salary in the mid-50s which isn't a ton of money. For the stuff they have to deal with, I think that's a fair salary. Even if you pay the bus drivers 36-38K/year (which is essentially $18/hour), you still have to spend money on training programs, etc.

To me, the debate is pretty simple:
- accept poorer service than we have now and pay less in taxes
- or pay a bit more in taxes and fares and have gradual improvements

So I finally had the chance to take the skytrain here in the Philippines and what a big difference it is.

1. Fair charges - There aren't any zones here so you pay a different rate for each stop. So if you were going from king george station to surrey central it wouldn't be $2.25 for the 1 zone. I actally like this more as you only pay a certain amount, not a zone charge

2. Turnstyles! - after you buy your card (I'll explain more about this), the turnstyle validates that you paid for your fair and let's you through. After you get to your destination you have to go through another turnstyle that checks to see that you paid the right fair, it also takes the card away from you after it's been validated. So if you don't pay to get onto the train in the first place the the 1st set of turnstyles will deny you entry. If you shortchanged the fair then the 2nd set of turnstyles will deny you entry and you also get fined and sent back onto the skytrain to your original stop. Did I also mention that there's tons of security at all stops. No way that you're get a free ride here. They also check your bags once you enter the stations so noone is going to get robbed unless they attack you with their hands or feet.

3. Transit cards - the fair machine spits out a card instead of a ticket. So it's pretty much a loaded gift card, this would save trees and garbage along with preventing the bums or anyone else the opportunity to resell since the validator at the stop takes away the card. So you pay your exact amount each time you board and it's a one time use.


I really like their transit system here. The only thing is that the skytrain and bus fairs aren't tied together like we have it in the lowermainland. The locals get around by taxi, cycles or mini buses, each have their own rates, way cheaper but per time uses. To give u an example of how cheap it is here. $1 american = 45 pesos. We spent 20 pesos to take the skytrain from the very first stop to the very last one. It was about 10 stops. A taxi ride from somewhere like superstore on Rupert street to downtown Vancouver would be about 100 pesos. The fair also starts at 30 pesos. So realistically you can get from one side of town to the other for $5 or less.
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This change is coming when the turnstiles/smart card system is fully implemented here. But, as logical as this system is, people who live far from their destinations will lose and complain loudly. Considering we've had the zone system for 50 years, you can expect that people who will end up paying more under a distance-based pricing system will complain.

So are ALL the prices going up for everything??
including the price for monthly passes and fare savers?

Would it be smart to load up on fare savers now??
(or when the time comes, and the prices go up, will you have to pay more to make up the extra price, cause the old fare savers would be "invalid" ? )

when the turnstyles get implemented, they will jack up the fare again for us to pay for it

^ amen to that

So you guys are saying you don't want the system to improve...?

I don't know if this is still able to happen but when they jacked up the bus fare a few years ago, my mom was able to use her older faresavers (she bought them in like 5-6 packs). Damn Translink, how they can't find a way to make money other than increasing fare is beyond me.

Yes, you can definitely load up on FareSavers now to save some money.

One article I read explicitly stated that the ones purchased now will still be good after the price increase, and you won't have to pay the difference.

fuk..

cant sleep if I drive to UBC every morning..

They'll still find a way to increase fairs once the turnstyles are in. It's a neverending vicious cycle and we can't do shit about it
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you save $2 per fare saver book. doesn't exactly break the bank

how much are fare saver gonna be?

Well. still money. If you could save $2 (and more if you buy a lot), why not?
People strategically wait for gas prices to drop before filling, and the difference
between 110 and 105 is like $2 (if you fill 40L)

true that, ppl get hella pissed off if they have to fill it up during the day time lol

i rather them have more frequent service than to expand on their routes..at least in the city.

i dont mind the price hikes..it's just my pesonal experience the service hasn't really improved a great deal for the # of hikes we've had in the past 10 years.

I think increasing frequency would be based on usage patterns. There has to be a large enough demand to justify more frequent service. It's not exactly "costing nothing" to run an extra train or bus just so they can have more frequent service. I'm sure the route planners have taken into account the usage patterns of people and adjusted frequency to satisfy the demand.

As people who directly and indirectly fund Translink, I think we'd like them to be as efficient as possible. Before you complain about the frequency of a train or bus, take a look around on the bus or train you just got on. How many people are on it? The cost to run the train or bus is pretty much the same whether there's one person on it or 100 people. Wouldn't you want more people on it to offset the costs? If the bus or train you take is always full and Translink doesn't increase frequency, complain and bring it to their attention. However, I'm doubting that the bus that comes every half hour is going to be all that full, and it's probably running at a loss in the interests of serving people in the not so accessible areas.

In the end, Translink is running a business, and their goal is to at least break even or make money. They're not going to increase service in an area just because a few people don't want to wait half an hour for a bus. There has to be a solid business case to back it up before they spend the money on it.

well said. i dont think there is anyone here who can say they would run their own buisness at a loss for the sake of the people