I love the 3-door entrance on the B-Line but today, as I was running towards the back door my arm was the only thing that was going to fit so I quickly gave up my chances of getting in the front and ran to the front entrance as the bus doors were about to close. I stood there and waved and the driver opened the door.
As I got on I flashed my bus pass and the driver said to me in a snooty voice, “what was wrong with the other bus?” (I guess I should mention now that two B-line busses came at the same time and half the crowd opted to run up to the 1st one to spread out, as did I- I just didn’t run as fast in my heels). Anyhow, I tried to reply and say that the backdoor just closed on me and etc, not that there was anything wrong with that 2nd bus but naturally, when 2 buses come at the same time people try to spread out so they don’t’ have to be packed on one bus. I started to explain myself and then he CUT ME OFF and said, “pshh, yeah..whatever..”
I seriously felt angry, upset and embarrassed all at once. And the rest of the morning I was in a rotten mood. And I even woke up in a good mood.
Speaking about the new Provincial Transit Plan, Premier Campbell said "Our transit mission is nothing short of being a global leader in terms of public transit and transit usage."
Unfortunately, the plan will get us no where near to being a "global leader." The new transit plan has ridership reaching 17% by 2020.
But in Stockholm 70 percent of peak period trips are by public transit. In Berlin it is 40% with a goal of 80%. Paris and London are both over 20%.
Lately I've been rethinking my job situation: I need part-time hours so that I can have time for freelancing, and I need to be able to walk to work. I'd been struggling over these two points with myself because I'd started to think that maybe I was being too picky. I live on Broadway and Granville, so really I could catch a bus going anywhere from right outside my door. But I just have SUCH a struggle with justifying that money and time spent on taking transit.
Now, with the fare hikes, it would cost my Starbucks teas for the WEEK to take a bus to and from work for 2 days. Not to mention it will now cost $15 (which could have been flowers or some other gift) to visit my grandmother in Richmond Hospital twice a week, and $10 (again, flowers or something else) to go to my parents' house in Tsawwassen on Sunday.
The 1% decrease in GST is not exactly going to be saving someone like me much money, either. Maybe if I were, say, buying a car or some other large item it would help me out, but really, that extra 1% savings is not going to clinch the deal for me when buying a pair of winter gloves. The money is going to slither out of my wallet in other ways, instead.
Start: Dec 8 2007 - 9:00am
End: Dec 8 2007 - 5:00pm
Vancouver Transit Camp 07 is an inaugural event and we envision a full-day event for Metro Vancouver to bring people using, loving and geeking over transit (maybe together with staff from TransLink), to work together on how we can make it better, easier and more enjoyable for everyone. Transit Camp is inspired by BarCamp, which is powered by participation and focused on a positive, respectful atmosphere. We will hold simultaneous small-group sessions on a self-organized basis around topics of interest to the community, as well as celebrations of transit through user-generated media and articles (music, buttons, t-shirts), photography, illustration and music inspired by transit in Vancouver.
The event will be well-documented in the form of blog posts, wiki content, photos, and video for everyone who is unable to attend. Even if that's you, tell a friend and see if they can come!
We envision a full-day event for Metro Vancouver to bring people using, loving and geeking over transit together with staff from TransLink, to work together on how we can make it better, easier and more enjoyable for everyone. Transit Camp is inspired by BarCamp, which is powered by participation and focused on a positive, respectful atmosphere. We will hold simultaneous small-group sessions on a self-organized basis around topics of interest to the community, as well as celebrations of transit through user-generated media and articles (music, buttons, t-shirts), photography, illustration and music inspired by transit in Vancouver.
Sign up at the Vancouver Transit Camp website, or send an email to vancouvertransitcamp@gmail.com letting us know you'd like to come!
The event will be well-documented in the form of blog posts, wiki content, photos, and video for everyone who is unable to attend. Even if that's you, tell a friend and see if they can come!
As the B.C. Legislature debates Bill 43 to turn the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority into the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority and altering its governance structure and processes, the NDP caucus research branch has filed a freedom of information request asking for the documents the government received as submissions to the changes. The NDP in turn sent out a notification to "various transit-friendly transportation stakeholders", which evidently includes me (they did not reveal the full list of people they sent it too) asking who would be interested in the documents, and I asked to receive them. 9 PDF files each over 2 MB each later, I'm publishing them here on Urban Vancouver. They are attached below.
The other day, Paul Hillsdon tantalized us combination transit geeks and web geeks with a graphic showing Google Transit and TransLink together, implying that Vancouver's transportation authority was going to have their routes and time schedule included in Google's maps. TransLink sent me an invitation (to an email address that I don't even use), and I posted an event listing on Urban Vancouver for the official launch, which happens tomorrow (Thursday, November 1st) at 10:30 AM at SFU's Harbour Centre Fletcher Challenge Theatre. I'll be there along with my citizen journalism and transit fan buddies documenting the event.
