I feel compelled to write you after reading an article in tonight’s Tribune about the Guelph Transit situation and solutions being considered at Wednesday’s committee meeting on the matter.
As a regular user of the transit system I am not against paying more money per ride. Fares probably should have increased in smaller amounts a couple times over the last four years. I doubt the system would be the sorry mess it is if it had collected more appropriate fares from everyone, and that brings me to my big problem with both solutions being proposed.
As an employee at the university I’ve known for around ten years that the students there had the universal bus pass. I know how expensive post-secondary education is and I think we should give university students a break in fares as compared to a regular adult fare. We do it for seniors and high school students too. The problem is that university students get such a big discount that the money generated by them is not sufficient to maintain the services demanded by their numbers. One of the co-ordinators who directs bus traffic in the square told me U of G students generate 40% of the revenue and use 60% of the resources. It would seem fair that a more significant amount of the needed funding to improve bus service should come from the
universal bus pass program. Given that a 1 month high school or adult pass costs more than a 4 month semester pass for U of G students, there should be a lot of room to generate more money under the pass program and still give the students great value.My understanding is that all students pay the $50.23, nobody can opt out. That makes it difficult to raise the price of it to an amount that would generate 50% more revenue and actually cover the cost of the services they use. If they could do it, great, it’s still a fantastic deal for those who use the bus but for others it’s a lot more money to throw away (if they own a car or never, or very rarely, use the bus). If it’s not possible to raise it that much then I would
suggest it would be advisable to cancel the program next fall and create a new monthly pass (or semester pass) with charges in the range of senior or high school passes. Less students would have them but those that do would be generating enough revenue to pay for whatever services are required.As I said at the beginning, I support efforts to help university students with discounted fares. The point, on which I apparently disagree with Guelph Transit, is the size of the discount or the price I’m willing to pay to make that discount possible. I support paying a higher fare myself, provided 30 or 20 minute reliable service is provided. It’s been a long time since that was provided – five years at least. I do not support property tax hikes to pay for the service while there are such high discrepencies between the rates of the
universal bus pass and all other passes. Bring their fares in line with others – if there’s still a shortage raise property taxes to fill the shortfall. If you can meet the amount needed without raising taxes and leaving the cost of the universal pass some what lower than the other passes, I’m fine with that too.The only other point I have is that it needs to be fixed fast. July is too far away. Every workday the new schedule has cost me an extra hour of my time. That’s five extra hours a week – getting to work a 1/2 hour early and waiting a 1/2 hour after work for a bus. Others complain about the frustration over the extra time they need to invest in getting from one point to another. People have no idea what time a bus is coming. Next Bus is unreliable and not to be believed (various drivers have told me to use a printed schedule, they no longer have them on the buses and now the buses run early sometimes so it’s more of an estimate – good luck). Full buses have left me and others standing in the square waiting 15 minutes for another one. Full buses drive by without room to pick up – 40 minutes until the next one. I personally know two people who have purchased cars and put them on the road, I’ve heard of a few more through other people. These people will not park their cars when transit finally
gets it’s act together, they’ve paid for insurance and parking passes.Over the course of the winter I can only imagine frustration will drive others to do the same. Guelph Transit is accomplishing the opposite of what public transit is meant to do. BM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am writing this email to urge you to vote against a proposed increase in the price of bus tickets for seniors and students. Based on my own personal observations these two groups represent the two largest groups of riders.
An 18.5% increase is certainly excessive. I do not know of one pensioner who received an increase in their pension income which would be anywhere near that amount.
Personally I will be walking more and riding the bus less. It will not only be better for my health but the environment as well as I have chosen not to drive in the city. The newspaper article I read indicated that more drivers would need to be hired. To that I say, so what. Employed people spend money which is good for the overall economy. BP