She's Baaaaack!
I don't remember the date of my last post, but it was a long time ago. Chris has been pushing me to get back to writing my rants (probably so she doesn't have to listen to so many of them).
I'm not even going to attempt to fill in the events that have occurred between my last post and this, my first of 2009. I'm starting afresh, it's not as if there is a lack of pressing issues. We live in troubled and troubling times, and no matter what's happening, the Mutt has an opinion. Ask anyone who knows me.
Today a friend purchased a Translink 2-zone bus pass. The cost? $99. So a hundred bucks to be permitted to ride overcrowded, often late, always-inconvenient buses. We live in the wilds of Maple Ridge, which adds another level of hellishness, with bus routes sometimes many kilometers from relatively highly-populated areas, but many people have no alternative, and live with outrageous commutes. There's no skytrain service at all out here in the hinterlands.
Many bus riders make the choice to use transit because it's environmentally friendly, but those people often have a personal vehicle as back up in times of necessity. Some people can afford the West Coast Express, but there are a lot of Lower Mainlanders working minimum wage jobs (or several minimum wage jobs) who are dependent upon unreliable transportation, at a premium cost. $136 for a three-zone pass (required to ride from Maple Ridge to Vancouver). $99 for a two -zone pass (Maple Ridge to Surrey). $73 for a one-zone pass (from Maple Ridge to nowhere). Vancouverites get crushed into buses, shoehorned like sardines, lucky if they get onto a bus early enough to actually make it to wherever they hope to be sometime around the time they need to be there. Others stand at marked stops only to watch buses pass by, full to overflowing.
God help the elderly or disabled or anyone with a stroller, small children or packages. God help anyone who has allergies to scents or sensitivities to strong odors. God help anyone who doesn't want to hear cell phone conversations involving the words "Like, oh my God!" at high volume, repeatedly.
The Chairperson of the Translink Board of Directors is paid a flat rate of $100 000 per year. The eight directors are each paid $25 000 plus $1 200 for each meeting they attend. The directors all have "real jobs"; want to bet they don't bus it to work. Want to bet they've never ridden a bus or a skytrain?
It's not hard to understand why people become hostile whenever there is talk of fare hikes. Maybe someone will wave his or her magic wand and fix the embarrassment that is Vancouver's transit system before "the eyes of the world" are focused on the city in 2010. Let's hope.
Where there's hope there might be an empty seat for someone who deals with a 4 hour commute every workday.
I'm not even going to attempt to fill in the events that have occurred between my last post and this, my first of 2009. I'm starting afresh, it's not as if there is a lack of pressing issues. We live in troubled and troubling times, and no matter what's happening, the Mutt has an opinion. Ask anyone who knows me.
Today a friend purchased a Translink 2-zone bus pass. The cost? $99. So a hundred bucks to be permitted to ride overcrowded, often late, always-inconvenient buses. We live in the wilds of Maple Ridge, which adds another level of hellishness, with bus routes sometimes many kilometers from relatively highly-populated areas, but many people have no alternative, and live with outrageous commutes. There's no skytrain service at all out here in the hinterlands.
Many bus riders make the choice to use transit because it's environmentally friendly, but those people often have a personal vehicle as back up in times of necessity. Some people can afford the West Coast Express, but there are a lot of Lower Mainlanders working minimum wage jobs (or several minimum wage jobs) who are dependent upon unreliable transportation, at a premium cost. $136 for a three-zone pass (required to ride from Maple Ridge to Vancouver). $99 for a two -zone pass (Maple Ridge to Surrey). $73 for a one-zone pass (from Maple Ridge to nowhere). Vancouverites get crushed into buses, shoehorned like sardines, lucky if they get onto a bus early enough to actually make it to wherever they hope to be sometime around the time they need to be there. Others stand at marked stops only to watch buses pass by, full to overflowing.
God help the elderly or disabled or anyone with a stroller, small children or packages. God help anyone who has allergies to scents or sensitivities to strong odors. God help anyone who doesn't want to hear cell phone conversations involving the words "Like, oh my God!" at high volume, repeatedly.
The Chairperson of the Translink Board of Directors is paid a flat rate of $100 000 per year. The eight directors are each paid $25 000 plus $1 200 for each meeting they attend. The directors all have "real jobs"; want to bet they don't bus it to work. Want to bet they've never ridden a bus or a skytrain?
It's not hard to understand why people become hostile whenever there is talk of fare hikes. Maybe someone will wave his or her magic wand and fix the embarrassment that is Vancouver's transit system before "the eyes of the world" are focused on the city in 2010. Let's hope.
Where there's hope there might be an empty seat for someone who deals with a 4 hour commute every workday.
posted by Alphamutt at 10:13 PM
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