[Busriders-van] Bus Riders Union Takes to the Streets

[Martha and Aiyanas]

PRESS RELEASE FOR JULY 24, 2003

Bus Riders Union Takes to the Streets
BRU organizes riders left in the cold by inadequate 'Night Bus' service

    On Thursday July 24 the bright orange t-shirts of the Bus Riders 
Union (BRU) will once again be visible throughout downtown Vancouver.  
BRU organizers are taking to the streets organizing bus riders to oppose 
TransLinks cuts and mis-priorities.  The action is the latest in a 
series of mass organizing drives in which BRU organizers have talked to 
hundreds of bus riders affected by the lack of late night bus service in 
the region.  This time BRU organizers will be talking with those bus 
riders, many of them night workers, who are left in the cold by 
TransLinks inadequate Friday and Saturday only 'Night Bus'.

    "We certainly applaud any increase in bus service," says BRU 
organizer Martha Roberts, "but this two nights per week service really 
doesn't address the needs of transit dependent people.  We need late 
night buses seven days a week.  Transit dependent people work nights 
seven days a week; we are hearing from riders that hundreds, if not 
thousands, of bus riders work late and finish work after the last bus 
stops running. Women, youth, gays and lesbians and others who face 
violence and harassment on the streets need access to a safe affordable 
ride home seven days a week."

     As part of the action the Bus Riders Union will be collecting 
signatures on their 'Billions for Buses' petition, and gathering 
testimonials from bus riders who continue to face hardship since 
TransLinks October 2001 transit cuts.

    "We've already collected testimonials from dozens of people impacted 
by the Night Owl cuts", says BRU organizer Yang Chang.  "And what we're 
finding is that the way transit dependent people have 'adapted' to the 
cuts is by losing their jobs, by losing hours at work, or by spending 
way more than they can afford on cabs.  In other words, bus riders are 
experiencing this curfew that TransLink has placed us under as a serious 
economic hardship.  Moreover, we've learned that it is indeed already 
marginalized groups that are hit hardest by these policies: First 
Nations people, immigrants and refugees, and women working low-wage jobs." 

    The late night leaflet is part of the Bus Riders Union Campaign 
"Night Owl Buses: End the Curfew Now!"  Other upcoming events related to 
the campaign include a Public Meeting on July 28, 6:30pm at Mount 
Pleasant Neighbourhood House, and a delegation which will take bus 
riders' demands to the July 30 meeting of the TransLink Board of Directors.


BRU Night Leafleting
Thursday, July 24, 10 pm
Granville Skytrain Station (Granville St. Entrance)
Media Contacts: Martha Roberts 604 215 2662 or Jen Efting 604 255 4745

-- 

So many deeds cry out to be done,

And always urgently;

The world rolls on.

Time presses.

Ten thousand years are too long,

Seize the day, seize the hour!

Mao Tse-tung, 1963

 

 

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