oʍʇǝuoǝnu

  • 3 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • Public transit is viable if it means you’re commute is faster. There will always be people with an excess amount of money but why do we give a shit what they want, they are a demographic who doesn’t need support. Better public transit for those who can’t afford to drive means less cars on the road for those who need to or choose to drive which means faster commutes for everyone. It’s a win win situation but people are too short sighted to see that.

    Cities, provinces, and the feds have the money to build out our public transit infrastructure they just don’t want to because it means more work and a chance they will lose votes. Much like parent of the child who wants to eat candy for dinner, the gov’t needs to step up and act like the leaders they claim they are, and not roll over like some weak ass parent who is scared of their kids. Vancouver Island, where I live, has a rail corridor going from Courtenay to Victoria that could realistically serve the majority of the islands population yet the municipalities refuse to look at it because the people who vote (seniors) think it’s a waste of money, don’t want change at the end of their lives, and have all the free time in the world to organize, to write letters to politicians, to go on media campaigns, etc.

    Also, I find it laughable that you think I have a me first mentality for not wanting to waste 5 hours of my day commuting when my government refuses to give me a real alternative. If the rail corridor was open and I still chose to drive then sure, that’s valid criticism. Until I can move closer to my job (doubtful with $2000+/month for a 2 br) or there’s a viable alternative that doesn’t mean I lose all agency in my life to save $20 a month then I’m going to continue to drive and if the govt wants me to stop because they “care about the environmental impact” then they can do their job and uphold the public interests and give me and everyone else on the island a real, practical, and economic alternative to driving. This is no different than blaming the consumer about all the plastic bottle waste instead of regulating the industry that produces them.



  • Adding a cost to driving will force people to reconsider their habits and when enough people have to change, we can demand the city do better with transit. Right now, if you have money, you will not take public transit. It doesn’t make sense for people with money and poor people have no choice to take public transit.

    And if there is no viable alternative for then to turn to they will not change their minds. We build the infrastructure first, and change the public’s mind second with improved commute time, more money in their pocket, etc. I’d rather not wait several years after the public has finally got it through their “me first mentality” to start the decades long process of expanding our pathetic transportation infrastructure to bring us to s21st century standard. We are a half a century behind countries in Europe and Asian in regards to our transit infrastructure, the best time to build it was 50 years ago, the second best is today not in 5 years when driving a car is no longer possible for the majority of people.

    I could take the bus to work, but it turns my 2hrs of driving a day into 5 hours of commuting. I would never give up my car until that option is viable, and that’s not going to happen until we have the infrastructure to make it viable.