[bru-info] BRU Still Fighting to Lower Fares

[bru-info at lists.resist.ca]

May 26, 2005

Bus Riders Union Fights to Lower Fares!

"We're one step closer to achieving victory in this pressing campaign", says BRU organizer Beth Grayer, "it is time that regional politicians recognize that bus riders are fed up with working longer hours and cutting out essentials in order to pay for skyrocketing public transit costs." 

On May 24 2005, the Bus Riders Union campaign "Lower the Fare Now for Community Health and Social Justice" took a leap forward with a Vancouver City Council endorsement of the primary BRU demand to rescind the January 2005 fare increase and lower public transit fares across the region. BRU organizer Jennifer Efting gave a hard-hitting presentation on the experiences, needs, and ideas of transit-dependent women from working class and marginalized communities across the region; women who overwhelmingly agree that TransLink must recognize and act on the growing and urgent need for lower fares. After the BRU presentation, Councillor Tim Louis moved a motion to adopt the BRU recommendations that included public washrooms and translation of public transit information but most importantly focussed on lowering the bus fares, and the Vancouver City Councillors adopted the motion. 

"This is an important moment for our campaign to lower the fares, and for our ongoing organizing for the economic and social rights of the transit-dependent, who are majority women and people of colour and particularly women of colour, across the region. However, we must keep in mind that this is a short-term victory achieved due to the hard work and commitment of BRU organizers and the over 700 members we have across the region" remarked Jennifer Efting. 

"Bus riders are the experts in public transit in this region" adds Grayer, "and we know that public transit is a concrete need most urgently felt by those of us struggling to survive in this time of public service cuts, job losses, declining wages, and widening privatization. When TransLink raised the bus fares, they took food off our plates and opportunities from our lives. This is an issue of our right to mobility, our right to healthy communities, and is an important struggle for social justice in this region."

The BRU would like to acknowledge those who have stepped forward in this struggle for lower fares, and supported our campaign demands. The Hospital Employees Union, the Council of Canadians, the Simon Fraser Student Society, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women BC Society, the Senior's Network BC, the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture, the Vancouver Status of Women, and the Douglas College Women's Centre have lent their support to the achievement of lower fares for health and social justice in our communities. If your community organization, union, student union, faith-based group or service agency would like to endorse the BRU campaign "Lower the Fares Now: For Community Health and Social Justice" please contact the BRU at the phone or address below.

Bus Riders Union
407-119 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 1S5
604 215 2775
bru at resist.ca
http://bru.resist.ca
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