wanna hear a joke?

this shit would never pass

God...we need to change our priorities!

We need cost cutting across the board. You name the department.

I was talking with Dino the other day, regarding the 139 mill at Translink that "could" be found. First, although those savings are there, they probably won't all be utilized.

Next, and this is key...I don't think many departments are literally burning money. The money is being spent, and someone, somewhere is going to bitch to high heaven when that tap is turned off. We may not be getting a great benefit for that dollar, but its being used and something is being provided for it.

So, when you start talking about cost cutting, every little thing becomes a sacred cow. We're seeing this in the states right now. They are huge on talking about cost cutting, very small on executing cost cutting. But, the best we've heard of what actually may be cut is planned parenthood and big bird. That's the big fucking show.

It's the same problem here. You cut a night bus that has 4 passengers, and I'm sure the news will find the single mother of 12 kids working 14 jobs that relies on that bus. You need someone that can rise above that, and say "the cuts stay".

Cutting costs is hard! Look at the grief they are taking about the kits coast guard base. One cut. People are out for blood.

This is the problem with an entitlement society...you can't take the knife back out without causing further trauma.

The other bad part, and this is directly where this study comes in, is that these departments feed off spending money. Maybe we need to say no? maybe after the canada line, the port mann project and others, maybe we needed to hold off for 5 years on evergreen, to let a little cashola build up again. That's just me.

BUT-we'll have someone chime in that the Evergreen line is so needed and blah blah blah. Promised for years it was! So you can't win on cutting a single cost, because there is always someone that wants one more sacred cow of spending. And in politics, you can't be popular for making the hard decisions.

^There are two sides to your logic.

Cost-cutting is necessary now, because money was very poorly managed in the past.

How much revenue do you think were bled out because for some dumbass reason, we let people use the Skytrain based on the "honour system." Then, instead of installing gates, they hired people who worked ridiculous amounts of overtime. Then, crime went up, and we hired more of these people, and gave them guns.

Flashy signs that tell you when the next bus is coming. Was that necessary? When I took the bus, I walked up to the pole, pulled out my watch, and subtracted the time the bus was supposed to arrive, to the time it was now. No problems there.

Golden Ears bridge. Enough said.

Perhaps they are receiving more shit than they are actually responsible for, but they deserve every bit of it.

Now look what's happened. Nobody has ANY confidence in them anymore, and THAT'S why someone somewhere will complain. If they had a good track record of doing their shit properly, and then due to circumstances needed extra revenue, and proposed a tax hike, it wouldn't be met with so much negativity and criticism.

As for the entitlement society, I agree with you 100%.

Canada has too many people who fucking complain, and too many people who listen to people who complain. Now, people complain for the sake of complaining, not really knowing what the implications are. People refuse to compromise. Make some fucking sacrifices. Look what's happened to Greece.

I also disagree with your last comment. In politics, hard decisions are easy to make because the people don't really see the effects for a while. It's the guy after that gets shit upon. In that regards, I feel terrible for the next government; much akin to Obama in some ways.

How about Translink simply use a little logic... if you can't make something within the original budget, don't.

After billions worth of investment into the infrastructure, Translink is still not breaking even. This can mean only one thing, the plan currently in place is WRONG!

Why do we pour more money into things that would eventually lose more money? They need to figure a fucking way to at least break even. And when they turn into profit, they can start talking about expansion.

Granted I no longer live in GVR, but every time I see news like this, I get mad. It's a slap in the face saying "Look, I spent all your tax money on useless shit and now I am going to grab some more to create some more useless shit." :rukidding:

How about they take all the money they collect for roads, maintenance & transit and use it for said things instead of piling it all into General Revenues? And why do we need "experts" from the states to come here with their suggestions? We're taking advise from people who don't have their own house in order.

we are turning into the UK :(

pretty much anything the UK and Japan do influences our future in BC...

that being said, expect tiny housing, overpopulated cities, and TAX ON EVERYTHING!

sure it might not happen now, or withing a decade but it will happen and it will only get worse till no one can afford to drive.

the interior is looking better and better by the minute :okay:

couldv fooled me that our roads were maintaned

lol money problem? they need a new controller

a U.S. expert panel on transportation suggests...

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instanc...x/12142066.jpg

first of all why are we getting advice from the US, look at the state the country is in right now lol.

why dont we seek advice from Germany, Switzerland or even HK

How many people at Translink are executives that make the big bucks (e.g. 150-200K?) Less than 20.

I reckon that your average manager makes around 80-90K. Your average non-union technocrat maybe in the 50-60s. The audit sponsored by the provincial government basically stated that staff salaries are in line with other public sector organizations. Now, if your view is that public employees are paid too much to begin with, well nothing I can say will convince you otherwise.

Not a lot of money, really. Considering the cars, clothes, and vacations of people on this site, I figured that 60-70K was the average salary for working people.

Well, Translink basically informed people in press releases related to its proposed 2013 plan that it would have to start cutting service if it couldn't find other sources of revenue.

Cuts are tough to make. Granted most people here wouldn't touch public transit with a 10 foot pole, but a lot of people depend on it.

Me and my friends had the same conversation a couple days back. BCs getting ridiculous. I love this city but id leave in a second if it wasnt for my good friends and family living here. People talk about there futures and shit...... Theres no future in a place that will eventually tax u for absolutely anything they can. If they could, they would tax u for walking if they could.

We need a revolution,that's what we need.

Rise up and take a stand.

DONT GIVE THEM IDEAS :denied:

THIS.JUST.SOUNDS.SO.FUCKING.STUPID.

i get the concept of user fees, provided, i am not already being raped by govt on taxes/sales tax/property tax/ high (est) parking fees...etc.

i suggest getting new experts. preferably ones whose expertise isnt in anal rape

I have a feeling that this was the "suggestion" that they made seem was the "most likely" in order to incite public rage and pushback so whatever they DO end up proposing won't "seem so bad" but on any other day would be ridiculous.

Lets hear "Plan B"

Vancouver, best city to live in and get raped by taxes!

If you could quote some sources with those numbers, that be helpful. If those numbers are true, that's not so bad.. however, even if the salaries inline, the number of staff that they have i'm sure could use some work.
I'm basing this on my experiences and conversations with friends at WorkSafe and CBSA. So if those are unique examples, then I take it back.

I work in the public sector, so I have a pretty good idea of salaries across the board. I know the provincial departments in BC pay about 10-15% less than equivalent positions in other levels of government. I also have a friend who works for WCB and like other Crowns, average compensation is slightly higher than regular departments. The audit noted that Translink employees are about in the middle between Crowns and provincial government regular employees.

For the benefit of RS, here's some information about salaries at the federal level:

Your typical program manager is probably a PM-4 or PM-5. Salary range is $62-82K/year.
Program and Administrative Services - (AS, CM, CR, DA, IS, OE, PM, ST, WP) 8 / 10

How much auditors working for CRA get paid:
Audit, Commerce and Purchasing AV 5 / 9

What a statistician, or some kind of analyst makes. These people are typically classified as EC-02s and EC-03s ($50-62K/year):
Economics and Social Science Services (EC) 231 13 / 15

What a border guard makes (probably in the FB03 or FB04 category):
Border Services (FB) 8 / 11

A typical clerk or administrative assistant makes ($47-58K):
Program and Administrative Services - (AS, CM, CR, DA, IS, OE, PM, ST, WP) 8 / 10

In my experience, federal compensation is roughly comparable to jobs at the municipal level.

Global just tweeted this...
Bus Fare Dodgers.... at least 2.1million people didnt pay their fares..which is a rough estimate..

Fare evasion costs - Noon News Hour - Videos | Global BC

Since I read the audit, I can comment on this as well.

From 2009 and 2011 the size of the Translink executive team was shrunk from 34 to 17 members creating a 31% savings in executive compensation. Translinks executive compensation structure was found in the mid-range and reasonable by the audit.

From 2007-2011 numbers of both Union and Non-Union employees have grown about 25%, but it's difficult to say this money is being misspent because service has also seen significant increases.

The maintenance department was grown by 30% in preparation for the Olympics, but the work requirements have now declined and the department has not been scaled back. The audit suggests the department see a 10% cut.

This is not a valid argument without more details about what it previously was.

If the 34 executive board was in place since the beginning of Translink, and was only beginning to shrink in 2009, you do the math of how much unnecessary salary was paid before the "restructuring." And who is not to say that the members that were booted out still retained positions in the company, albeit no longer "executive", and retained similar salaries.

There are loopholes and shady wording all over the document.

Dismantle Translink. Bring back BC Transit to take care of buses and skytrain; if they don't have enough money, at least their lack of money won't affect everything else. Set up several other corporations to maintain each part of the infrastructure. One for roads and bridges, building & maintenance. Let the CRA, or set up a provincial branch of it to control and regulate taxes and such; The parking tax is fucking absurd. And all of this should be managed by a responsible and transparent government who can instill confidence in the public that they are working towards to the good of the province/people.