YCL BC Committee, March 2010
The YCL BC expresses its firm opposition to the 10% price increase for FareSaver tickets and monthly passes on Translink services scheduled to become effective April 1st.
The cost of transit fares in the lower mainland has skyrocketed out of control, particularly in the last few years. Far from a luxury, the public transit system is a necessity for thousands of working people and for the majority of youth and students. Increased fares continue to make the transit system less accessible for young workers and students. Already a trip to work and back for a young worker costs between $5 and $10 while minimum wages sits at $8 for over eight years. Monthly passes will now cost from $81 to as much as $151. Many students are not covered under the various pass programs which offer lower rates.
We can’t continue to pay the endlessly increasing costs of Translink operations. The YCL demands:
- A publicly owned and operated transit system
- Meaningful public input in transit expansion decisions
- Democratically elected governance and the right to recall
- Expansion of transit services to meet the needs of those who use it; working people, youth, students, and the poor
- Funding through progressive taxation, not through high fares. This means taxing the rich and the corporate elite, not regressive taxes like the HST
- A system of reduced fares for ALL students
- Reduction and eventual elimination of fares to make transit accessible for all
In the long term, our struggle is for a socialist Canada where the working class, including youth and students, democratically own and control the wealth of society which they alone produce. When society’s wealth is put to work improving the lives of the people rather than enriching a small group of elites, all manner of public services including public transit can be funded at never before seen levels to serve the needs of society as a whole.
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