Translink To The Poor...We Really Don't Want You Anymore.

ThereIsNoMagicInThe
FourteenPercentSolutionVille


Travis Lupick has the latest in the GStraight:

The Carnegie Community Centre Association’s Tamara Hermanexplained that some organizations working in the Downtown Eastside give people FareSaver tickets for transport to important meetings like medical and counselling appointments, job interviews, and court appearances.

“With the Compass cards, we are not going to be able to buy them at $6 a card every time we need to give somebody a bus ticket,” she told the Straight. “It is really going to put a strain on our already strained budgets and just make that impossible.”

TransLink recently announced that it is phasing out FareSaver booklets, packs of 10 tickets purchased for the price of nine. If travellers want a similarly discounted fare, they will have to purchase a Compass card for $6, and load it with enough money to pay for a ride...

{snip}

...Susan Henry, a legal advocate with the First United Church Community Ministry Society, told the Straight that she expects the introduction of the Compass system to hamper services provided by a number of community organizations.

“We will not be able to assist people [with transit] anymore,” Henry said. “Right now, it’s costing us the equivalent of $2.10 to help them for a single zone. If it’s going to cost us $8.75 [$6 for a Compass card plus $2.75 for a one-zone fare], we’re not going to be able to do it.”


And what does the Translink Spokesthingy have to say about this?

Well, he goes back to that old 14% solution he and his have offered up already:

...Derek Zabel, a spokesperson for TransLink, said that meetings with stakeholders are ongoing. He argued that the Compass card will come with benefits for low-income earners, explaining that it will provide a 14-percent discount compared to cash payments...

****

Now, as we have pointed out already....

Even coming straight off the top of $2.75 without factoring in the extra six bucks for the compass thing, the fourteen percent (non)solution doesn't get you back down to the $2.10 it costs per one zone fare with faresavers right now.

So.

It's not just the really down and out who are getting screwed here.

It is also the working not-rich who will have to buy two fares at $2.35 (i.e. a greater than 10%  increase on current costs) to get to and from their jobs every day who are getting the shaft.

OK?



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Laila also wrote about the egregiosity (new word!) of the 14% non-solution in her 24 Hours column earlier this week...
At a time like this, it sure would be nice if someone were to look into who is actually making (or has already made) the real money on this 'deal'.


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