9623 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Yeah, I don’t like that. Either all youth get the pass or you scrap the system.

But now you’ll have public school students with free passes, but private school students with paid passes. Hmm.

private school students don’t generally take public transit.

[Cats4Hire]

private school students don’t generally take public transit.

I'm not sure on that. The surrounding stops for 16/51, 26 and 6 for St. Andrew's are packed with people in uniforms so unless they just want to get the drive to stop for no reason I assume they're taking the bus.

[Nparker]

...Councillor Isitt via twitter: “A bold first step toward fare-free, expanded, electrified public transit in BC’s capital region,”...

Just words his followers love to read/hear. They don't need to make any sense.

[Mike K.]

private school students don’t generally take public transit.

Sure they do. By the hoards. Denying them the free passes based on the perception that they must all be wealthy, therefore don’t use transit or can afford a pass, is terrible optics for the City.

[RFS]

Just words his followers love to read/hear. They don't need to make any sense.

A bold first step towards cruelty-free, equitable, non-binary, decolonized public fun in the Victoria area.

*everyone claps*

[Midnightly]

Councillor Isitt via twitter: “A bold first step toward fare-free, expanded, electrified public transit in BC’s capital region,” with a link to a news report on the youth passes.

 

 

maybe the money the city is spending on these passes will be used to buy new electrified buses

 

i do have an issue with this program..  though i've had an issue with the program since she announced it as an election promise... i do not believe for one second that the money collected from Sunday parking (especially considering parkades are still free) will cover the cost of this program, it will be the tax payer picking up the extra cost (one thing she insisted the tax payer won't be on the hook for)

 

i also don't like the idea that it's only offered to kids/youth within the city of Victoria, could the city not have talked with the other municipalities to try to roll out a more substantial program if they must roll it out? i really don't like the fact that there are going to be kids attending the same school where some get a free pass and others do not.. just because they are on one side of the magical boundary of the city limits.. when the school catchment boundaries would put them within the same school

 

i also don't agree with handing passes to all kids K-12, i'm sorry but i would never let my 11year old daughter ride the bus alone let alone let a 9 year old or 6 year old ride the bus alone (most schools will not release a child without a parent if they are under grade 2) so why would a grade 1 child need a pass when they need a adult to pick them up?? along with that kids 12 and under can ride the bus for free with a paying customer.. so again why would a 8 or 9yr old need a bus pass?

 

how are these passes going to be delivered? are they going to have some preventative measure to help avoid resale? because i have a feeling resale will be a huge issue

[spanky123]

^I think BC Transit believes that few additional children will take advantage of the passes to attend school which is why BC Transit is offering the passes for $135 a year.

 

Note that on Feb 20th the CoV estimated that the revenue from Sunday parking would be $600K a year. Now that they have settled on an annual price of $850K a year with BC Transit, Helps feels that the revenue from Sunday parking will be up to $1M a year.

[Mike K.]

They’ll tweak the hours now that they know it’ll cost $850,000.

[AllseeingEye]

Sure they do. By the hoards. Denying them the free passes based on the perception that they must all be wealthy, therefore don’t use transit or can afford a pass, is terrible optics for the City.

Since our kid went to St Andrews for five years I'll weigh in and state definitively that is a correct inference: not all the families by a long shot were wealthy - however that is defined - but their kids attended and were enrolled by the parents based primarily on their faith, rather than the size of mom and dad's bank account.

 

Some families certainly were of the "monied" class, but I would say a comfortable majority were regular folks from a broad spectrum of blue and white collar careers....

 

Also many of these families and their children were of the non-white/visible minority/recent immigrant to Canada variety (China, Philippines, Mexico etc.,) - presumably from a leftist/NDP/CoV council perspective the very constituency they want to least offend: that said the vast majority of those kids and their voting-age parents in my experience don't (or didn't) live in Victoria - very fortunately for the CoV council.

[Victoria Watcher]

let me change that slightly then. of the kids that live in the city of victoria that go to private school few take public transit.

[Mike K.]

Given the locations of these schools and their broader catchment areas students might actually be more likely to rely on transit than you’d see at a typical high school.

Every day departing Esquimalt High there would be 25-35 kids catching a bus on Craigflower. Out of a 1,000. You’d see similar if not larger groups at St. Patrick’s. Wearing a uniform doesn’t mean you want your mom taking you to school!

[Victoria Watcher]

but the junior schools like st Michaels and Norfolk and that girls school in high quadra have their own buses.

[Mike K.]

I don’t think those buses pick kids up from home, though.

[Victoria Watcher]

I think they run a regular route. not door to door but along major roads. kids walk to that.

[Cats4Hire]

Public schools have their own buses too. SD63 has multiple routes for each school they even have to number them https://www.sd63.bc..../transportation

[Mike K.]

Yes, as does 62. But many students still opt for public transit.

[Victoria Watcher]

Public schools have their own buses too. SD63 has multiple routes for each school they even have to number them https://www.sd63.bc..../transportation

yes in rural areas. but only private schools have their own buses in the core.

you can’t blame them. if my kid went to st. Margaret’s I don’t want her mixing with the lesser kids on the #6.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 June 2019 - 06:05 AM.

[Cats4Hire]

yes in rural areas. but only private schools have their own buses in the core.

you can’t blame them. if my kid went to st. Margaret’s I don’t want her mixing with the lesser kids on the #6.

one of the Claremont routes goes to Royal Oak Exchange and up to the school, exactly like the 35. I don't know if you've ever been up there around 8:20ish but two almost packed 35s go by within about 5 minutes of each other to Claremont. 

[spanky123]

They’ll tweak the hours now that they know it’ll cost $850,000.

 

I am pretty sure I read somewhere that Saturday parking brought in $1M and that was with paid parkades, longer hours and higher rates. Likely doesn't matter as I am sure that City staff will just report whatever they are told to and if Sunday parking needs to be $2M to make numbers work then so be it.

[Ismo07]

I am pretty sure I read somewhere that Saturday parking brought in $1M and that was with paid parkades, longer hours and higher rates. Likely doesn't matter as I am sure that City staff will just report whatever they are told to and if Sunday parking needs to be $2M to make numbers work then so be it.

 

Seriously?  Saturdays typically average a little over $20k as on-street revenue (after GST has been removed, but not including other small expenses).  You can do that math on that one for the year.  When Staff reported it as being $1M I would think that is a good rounded amount.   You really believe City Staff could be told to report that Sundays would average around $40k?  C'mon that's frustrating...

 

Sundays estimate (it's not an easy estimation btw) with the lower Sunday rate that annual revenue would be around $600k.  This is around $12k per Sunday.  It is a little bit of a conservative estimate but paid parking on Sundays is an entirely unknown.  While others can certainly estimate more the reality will be what it is.

Edited by Ismo07, 13 June 2019 - 09:02 AM.