this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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We need free transit to improve service and the loading times.
This will also help unhoused people and people with substance use disorders find work and get to services they need.
To help fund this foreign tourists should pay an entry tax depending how long they stay.
Public transit should be nearly free - but I do think there's one main argument in favor of keeping it from being completely free - safety. Without a token charge, and with a lack of adequate shelters, busses are one of the most reliable shelters from weather and if folks flock to it to stay cool/dry/warm then it'll make it feel less safe especially for vulnerable folks including single women and the elderly.
We absolutely need to move beyond this dumbass neoliberal idea that public transit should be self funding, though.
I would say in that case we should instead provide housing for all our vulnerable members of society with a round the clock healthcare team as they do in Finland. They got down to 4000 unhoused people recently.
As we could build 4 storey apartments under social housing to end homelessness in BC.
I do support building out social housing - Austria is an excellent example of how to do it well... but these houses don't exist yet so I have concerns about how public transit would be until they did - lowering the cost and adding more provincial funding today would help immediately.