2164 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

In addition to shoe's data above, BCT identified service hours were 930k in 2015/16, so adding another $4.3M into the pile we saw a service increase of 1.3% versus a funding increase of 21.5%. Brutal.

[rjag]

In addition to shoe's data above, BCT identified service hours were 930k in 2015/16, so adding another $4.3M into the pile we saw a service increase of 1.3% versus a funding increase of 21.5%. Brutal.

 

Salaries and fleet replacement 

[Mike K.]

"Service hours delivered in Victoria are based on payroll records." [link]

 

Ok, hold on. So service hours are not just the hours a driver spends picking up and dropping off passengers, they appear to be the entire time a driver spends behind the wheel, i.e. when dead-heading to and from the depot? Does that literally mean that an expansion of service hours might actually relate to no additional services for the public at all, but in fact hide a decrease in service while drivers spend more time dead-heading to and from the depot?

[LeoVictoria]

Sorry Leo, but cutting through your good news assessment above what we actually saw was a 1.0% rise in service hours (918k vs 927k) with a budget increase of 17.2% between 2010/11 and 2014/15. In other words, literally no improvement in service whatsoever.

Nice cherry picking there. You Selected a few flat years of service and applied an averaged budget increase without knowing what the increase actually was.

Hint: If you conclusion completely changes by picking different start and end dates then you're focused on the noise instead of the data.

[LeoVictoria]

"Service hours delivered in Victoria are based on payroll records." [link]
 
Ok, hold on. So service hours are not just the hours a driver spends picking up and dropping off passengers, they appear to be the entire time a driver spends behind the wheel, i.e. when dead-heading to and from the depot? Does that literally mean that an expansion of service hours might actually relate to no additional services for the public at all, but in fact hide a decrease in service while drivers spend more time dead-heading to and from the depot?

I'm sure BC transit will be amazed at the discoveries that we are making in this thread. They probably have never thought about how to optimize the efficiency of their service.

[Mike K.]

I wish we had a budget for 2004/2005 but I can’t find it. What I can find is a budget for 2010/11 and 2017/18. It only makes sense to average out the years in between if we don’t have each individual year.

[LJ]

  Wages are expected to outpace inflation so in a labour heavy industry that alone would drive some increase over time.   

 

Says who? Not the people that are paying the price I'm willing to bet. Union leaders certainly. Maybe some economists. Not me.

[UDeMan]

As someone that takes the bus daily, to downtown, I can tell you that ridership appears to be way up to me.

I would say it's because the cost to drive and park downtown has spiked over the past few years as all the parking lots have been removed for development.

 

I would prefer to drive, but the cost difference is huge.   

 

Bus pass $85 per month.

 

Parking downtown, if you can find a monthly spot is $200 plus, or $10 to $15 per day.

Cost of gas, back and forth, depends on what you have.

 

I have coworkers paying $400 to $500 a month just to get to work, parking and gas.

[VIResident]

B.C. is paying some of the most obscenely, disproportionately high gas prices in Canadian history .  National Post January 10, 2019 The gas price disparity between Alberta and B.C. is always pretty surprising, but in the last few weeks it has become utterly, stratospherically, disproportionately high.

Last Thursday, Edmontonians were paying 84.9 cents a litre, while drivers in the neighbouring capital city of Victoria were paying 137.9 cents. That’s a spread of 53 cents, and a Victoria price 63 per cent higher than Edmonton’s. According to Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, it’s an “unprecedented” price disparity for two major Canadian cities.

If an enterprising Edmontonian filled up a 63,500-litre B-Train with retail-priced gasoline, they could bank gross earnings of more than $30,000 simply by driving it to the coast. Drive the 12 hours from Edmonton to Vancouver with a 378-litre slip tank in the back of your pickup truck, and the value of the gas inside will magically jump by $148.

Below, a few reasons as to why this is happening (and why it isn’t necessarily because B.C. refuses to build oil pipelines). 

https://nationalpost...e#comments-area

[Mike K.]

It’s still winter, but gas prices have surged to $1.399.

I fear what we’ll see come mid-summer won’t be good.

[lanforod]

A very few stations went to 149.x yesterday, none followed, so they have dropped back to 145.x today.

 

A bit earlier this year, but we had a similar conversation, Mike.

[rjag]

The anti-car lobby will be giddy at the thought!

 

I guess they dont care about the impact on the cost of goods

[Mike K.]

No doubt. We've never seen gas priced this high this early in the year, and this will have a staggering effect on family budgets.

 

What's most egregious is the GST rate remains static as gas prices rise, giving Ottawa a massive windfall in revenues as Canadians dig deeper and deeper to pay for gasoline.

 

Meanwhile in Port Angeles the converted price per litre is $0.83!

[Sparky]

I just filled up at $1.35

[Mike K.]

Oh yeah! On April Fool's Day the NDP are unleashing a higher carbon tax, because, you know, climate crisis.

 

Happy budgeting.

[sebberry]

I'm going to love paying for premium this summer!

 

Oh well, beats a new car payment.  

[vortoozo]

Meanwhile in Port Angeles the converted price per litre is $0.83!

 

How is transit, health care, etc. in Port Angeles?

The taxes that we pay on fuel are returned to us in other ways.

 

The increased spread that gas companies charge us is not.

[RFS]

How is transit, health care, etc. in Port Angeles?

The taxes that we pay on fuel are returned to us in other ways.

 

The increased spread that gas companies charge us is not.

 

I'm not sure if healthcare is really the angle you wanna take in a city where it has been impossible to get a family doctor for years.  As far as transit I'm sure Port Angeles is on par with similarly sized cities here.

[Mike K.]

I can't get a family doctor no matter how much I pay in gasoline taxes, and you want to talk about healthcare?

 

[Ah, RFS beat me to it. The other irony is those who pay the most in gas taxes tend to have the fewest transit access options]

[rjag]

How is transit, health care, etc. in Port Angeles?

The taxes that we pay on fuel are returned to us in other ways.

 

The increased spread that gas companies charge us is not.

 

Port Angeles is more like Port Alberni. Lots of reasons why we are gouged here, 1 of which is our dependence on a single pipeline from Alberta feeding US Refineries and selling in $US and then we are having to buy it back in $Can and they know we are held hostage.

 

Funny they can ship the same product to Oregon where the average price today is $2.29 per US gallon which converts to $.805/litre and Oregon doesnt have refineries and depends on 90% of their refining to come via the Olympic Pipeline and they dont have a State sales tax or a carbon tax and a population similar to BC