[bru-info] **Press Release**: Bus Riders Union Issues Open Letter to TransLink Review Panel

[bru-info at lists.resist.ca]

***For Immediate Release***

April 27, 2006

Bus Riders Union Issues Open Letter to TransLink Review Panel 

BRU says no to privatization and undemocratic process under provincial control

            
(Vancouver, B.C) The Bus Riders Union (BRU), a grassroots organization of over 900 members, has issued an open-letter to the TransLink Governance Review Panel, criticizing the panel as a farce designed to wrestle control of public transit further away from bus riders who depend on the service the most. 

 

Currently, TransLink's 12 directors are not directly elected but are appointed from the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The GVRD is made up of mayors and councillors from the Greater Vancouver area.  Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon, who initiated the governance review, has hinted at greater provincial control, sparking fears that a board dominated by provincial appointees would stifle the few existing avenues of democratic process available to bus riders.  

 

BRU organizer Yuly Chan comments, "In our past 5 years of fighting for more buses and lower fares, bus riders have been thrown off the speakers list, limited to 5 minute presentations, and banned from attending meetings altogether." Chan further notes, "Bus riders are the true experts in our transit system; we deserve democratic control.  The first step towards democracy in the transit system is to make TransLink board members directly elected, just like the Parks Board and the School Board."  

 

Falcon's review comes after he publicly criticized the TransLink board for twice voting to cancel the "Canada Line" mega-project.  This $1.9 billion dollar Skytrain line, built for the 2010 Olympics, will be run as a public-private-partnership for the next 35 years. The 'Canada Line' will generate profit for SNC-Lavalin, a multi-national corporation which until recently had profited from the sale of bullets used in the occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq & Haiti.   

 

"Voting to cancel the 'Canada Line' was the only sane choice for anyone who cares about public transit and public health" says Chan. "The provincial government interfered in the decision-making regarding this privatization project from the start and now they want to make sure that their neoliberal agenda cannot be challenged in the future.  The Bus Riders Union will continue to organize working class communities to hold TransLink and the Provincial government accountable for their anti-people, pro-business agenda".

 

-30-

 

Media Contacts:
BRU Office: 604-215-2775

Jennifer Efting: 604-255-4745

 

Enclosed: Open letter to the TransLink Governance Review Panel



Open Letter to the TransLink Governance Review Panel

 

April 28, 2006

 

TransLink Governance Review

c/o Joyce Vaillancourt

#1420-1111 W. Georgia

Vancouver, BC

V6E 4M3 

 

To: the TransLink Governance Review Panel: 

 

Re: Achieving true democratic governance of public transportation

 

As many of you know, the Bus Riders Union is a grassroots organization with over 900 members and thousands of supporters. We write you today to express our views on democratic process and governance, in light of your request for input regarding TransLink governance.   We wish to address two key problems; first, the structure of the governance review itself, and secondly, the anti-democratic nature of the current TransLink board.  

 

Let us consider some key participants in the TransLink Governance Review Panel.  They include: 

§         Former TransLink Director Marlene Grinnell.  Mayor Grinell consistently voted in favor of fare increases and mega-projects such as the "Canada Line" during her appointment to the TransLink Board of Directors 

§         Former Minister of Transportation Dan Doyle. Minister Doyle was instrumental in securing federal funding for the Canada Line - he is also a former director of Partnerships BC, a company owned by the provincial government which is mandated to open up public services to private interests, as was the case with the Canada Line.  

§         Wayne Duzita.  Mr. Duzita is a businessman heavily associated with the Vancouver Airport, the Richmond City of Commerce and the 2010 Olympics. 

 

Given the composition of the TransLink Governance Review Panel, it is highly unlikely that any decisions made by this panel will be other than those which support the privatization of public transit for private gain.  The interests of transit-dependent people are in reliable, accessible and affordable transit - not expensive mega-projects which by their nature inflate fares and drain money from public services and bus riders' pockets.  

 

A social justice approach to transportation planning and governance requires that bus riders be placed at the centre of public transportation and planning, rather than as just one of many 'stakeholders'.  The only 'stakeholders' who stand to gain from a review implemented by this panel are wealthy landowners and multinational corporations, such as SNC-Lavalin. 

 

This is not to say that the BRU doesn't see the need for a review of TransLink's democratic process.  TransLink should be run by the people who use the system the most.  With the current neo-liberal provincial government in power, any attempt at greater provincial control will act against the interests of bus riders.   

 

The TransLink Board of Directors should be directly elected by their constituents rather than appointed by the GVRD.  This first step would allow people to decide who should represent their transit needs, and would force TransLink directors to be directly accountable for their decisions. We believe that a first-class bus system, centered on the experiences, needs and vision of transit-dependent people would provide efficient, affordable and reliable service for everyone.  All public policy, including transit, should be based upon the principles of social justice, public health and a just distribution of economic wealth.  

 

The TransLink Board must act to increase the participation of transit-dependent people, who are majority women, and disproportionately people of color and Aboriginal people.  The steps towards increased accountability and democracy have already been laid out for the TransLink Board.  The Women in Transit project, an 8-month participatory action research initiative based on the experiences and vision of thousands of transit dependent women in the GVRD, put forth clear recommendations.  Democratic process hinges on the ability of working class people to meaningfully participate in decisions that deeply impact our lives.  The first steps towards achieving accessible TransLink meetings include:

o              Holding meetings in neighborhoods that are highly represented by the transit-dependent and accessible by bus

o              Providing childcare for women who could otherwise not be able to participate

o              Translating all documents into languages which reflect our communities

o              Holding meetings when transit-dependent people are able to attend (not 9am on weekdays) 

 

A review of TransLink's undemocratic process is needed.  The current transit system is in crisis.  The crisis will never be solved, however, through greater provincial controls that will further curtail the already inadequate avenues of democracy left to bus riders and further privatize our public transit system.    

 

Sincerely,

Dave Hendry 

On behalf of the Bus Riders Union 

 

 

cc: Members of the Tran slink Governance Review Panel: 

Marlene Grinnell

            Dan Doyle

            Wayne Duzita

 
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