[bru-info] For Immediate Release: Bus Riders to TransLink: Make 2006 the year for transportation justice in the GVRD!

[bru-info at lists.resist.ca]

July 18, 2006

***For Immediate Release***



Bus Riders to TransLink: 

"Make 2006 the year for transportation justice in the GVRD!"



On Wednesday, July 19, 2006 a Bus Riders Union representative will be speaking out at the monthly TransLink board meeting to challenge their self-congratulation on recent bus purchases.   The Bus Riders Union, known for their ubiquitous orange t-shirts and militant commitment to grassroots organizing, has 950 members and has been organizing in the GVRD since 2001.   



Dave Hendry, Bus Riders Union organizer, notes, "This is no time for TransLink to congratulate themselves on bus expansion, when we are facing a tremendous budget shortfall, unaffordable fares, and are speeding down the road to privatization of our transit system.   We support the purchase of new buses, but TransLink needs to be honest about the numbers – and the fact is, we haven't even gotten all the buses we were promised in the year 2000!"   In 2000 TransLink published in their Strategic Transportation Plan which promised 450 expansion buses by 2005.   TransLink is now back-pedalling, and says that goal will take until 2013 - an extra eight years - to meet.



"We know the population of Vancouver and surrounding areas is growing everyday, and we know that the burdens on transit dependent people keep getting worse because of gentrification, rising prices and low wages" continues Hendry, "yet TransLink, time and time again, keeps prioritizing spending on ultra-expensive privatized rail lines.   These privatization schemes are like Robin Hood in reverse – they steal from the working class to line the pockets of rich corporations like SNC Lavalin".   The 1.9 billion dollar Canada Line, now in construction to be completed by the 2010 Olympics, is the biggest public-private partnership in Canadian history.  Eighty percent of transit users ride the bus exclusively, while only 10% of transit users exclusively ride Skytrain. 



TransLink staff have characterized 2006 as the 'year of the bus'.  Bus Riders Union organizers challenge TransLink to "make 2006 the year for transportation justice, by cancelling the Canada Line, lowering fares, doubling the bus fleet, and ending racial profiling and police brutality in our transit system" 



The Bus Riders Union will be holding a picket on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 6pm outside the Canada Line Office at 409 Granville Street.   





-30-



Media Contacts:



Dave Hendry            604-215-2775

Jennifer Efting           604-255-4745 
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