[bru-info] BRU Monthly Meeting: Sat March 3rd, 11-1

[bru-info at lists.resist.ca]

Ride with Dignity:

BUY 500 BUSES BY 2010! STOP PRIVATIZATION!

Bus Riders Union Monthly Meeting
Saturday, March 3rd, 11am-1pm
At the Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice
672 East Broadway (at Fraser)


This week Provincial Transport Minister Kevin Falcon announced that the $970
million Evergreen Line will be built as a Public Private Partnership. Bus
riders and working class communities will pay the bill and a private
corporation will pick up the profits. TransLink is willing to commit $400
million to this project, yet has only purchased 130 expansion buses over the
last few years, a fraction of the 450 buses promised to bus riders since
2000. Clearly, TransLink is willing to pay millions of dollars when it
benefits their corporate buddies and privatizes the transit system, but does
not want to provide transit as a public service to the communities who need
it.

This month the Bus Riders Union collected surveys and photographs
documenting the effects of the underfunding of the bus system. Bus riders
are riding overcrowded buses, waiting for buses that never come, and
suffering from a shortage of service. But we can change these conditions!

Join the BRU next Saturday, March 3rd to discuss the impact of inadequate
public transit on our communities, build our understanding of privatization,
and plan for action. We will be strategizing for the upcoming TransLink
meeting on March 5thand planning the next steps of our campaign to win more
buses and stop the privatization of public transit.

We demand the expansion of public services for working class communities and
that TransLink:

   - Buy more buses – Buy 100 expansion buses in 2007; 500 expansion
   buses by 2010; double the bus fleet by 2017.
   - Stop overcrowding – Increase bus service to meet TransLink's own
   guidelines
   - End long waits – Increase bus service so that no one is waiting more
   than 30 minutes anywhere in the region

Childcare, snacks and bus tickets provided. Interpretation in Cantonese and
Spanish available.

*For more information contact the Bus Riders Union at 604-215-2775*

*busridersunion at gmail.com*

*bru.vcn.bc.ca*
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