[bru-info] Bus Riders Still Under Curfew

[bru-info at lists.resist.ca]

- September 5, 2004 - 


TransLink Returns Late Night Buses 

But Many Bus Riders Still Under Curfew

On September 6th TransLink is bringing back late night bus service, but has fallen short of its promise to bus riders to bring back late night bus service seven days a week on the 16 Night Owl routes cut in 2001. 

The new Night Bus service will run Monday through Saturday on the N20 Victoria, N8 Fraser, N15 Cambie, N10 Granville, N19 Metrotown, N6 Davie, and N35 SFU. The N10 Night Bus on Granville will be extended to Richmond Centre via the airport and the N19 Night Bus on Kingsway to Burnaby and New Westminster will be extended to Surrey Central Station. TransLink promises to extend the service to Sundays and add new routes in December.

"As TransLink congratulates itself for bringing back late night buses, many bus riders are still waiting in the dark," says BRU organizer Beth Grayer. "The late night service in 2001 was inadequate and TransLink has not even returned service to its former levels. Bus riders are still without any late night bus service on Sunday nights and many areas of the city do not have any late night service at all. Every day that bus riders wait for comprehensive late night service, they are living under curfew."

In 2001, TransLink claimed a budget shortfall when they cut the Night Owl service while they funelled millions of dollars into the Millenium Line. Now, as TransLInk institutes limited late night service and plans to raise fares in April 2005, they have allocated $2 billion of public money to build the Richmond Airport Vancouver rapid transit line. Further, with the construction of the RAV line, all bus service on Fraser, Main, Cambie, Oak, and Granville will be drastically cut.

"TransLink continues to make decisions that prioritize the business interests over bus riders," says BRU organizer Heather Jones. "Although the TransLink board is claiming it's bringing back late night service for the good of bus riders, they wouldn't have brought back late night bus service if it weren't for the political pressure from transit dependent communities and the hard work of the Bus Riders Union through our campaign for night owl buses. And we aren't satisfied with eight late night routes - we will continue our fight for 24-hour transit seven days a week on an expanded number of routes, to ensure meaningful access to mobility for bus riders." 

The Bus Riders Union is also gearing up to fight the upcoming fare increase planned for April 2005. The fare increase will raise fares and monthly passes by 6%.

"With the fare increase planned for April 2005, TransLink is forcing bus riders to pay directly into TransLink's corporate buddies' pockets while bus service worsens," continues Grayer. "Bus riders are outraged that fares are going up and are getting organized. The Bus Riders Union has launched a campaign to Stop the Fare Increase and we intend to win." 

Join the Bus Riders Union at the upcoming Forum for Economic Human Rights at the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday, September 16th at 7pm. Join the BRU for the March for Economic Human Rights on Sunday, September 19th at 1pm at Main Street Skytrain Station.

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