[Busriders-van] BRU Press Release

[Bus Riders Union]

*** For Immediate Release ***
June 4, 2003

TransLink decision leaves 225,000 daily bus riders out in the cold, again!
Bus Riders Union demands justice for bus riders!

	TransLink’s recent decision to borrow up to $700 million dollars for
expansion of the regional Skytrain system, starting with the
Richmond/Airport/Vancouver Rapid Transit Project, will make it even
harder for bus riders to get badly needed improvements in bus service,
according to the Bus Riders Union (BRU).

	“This is a slap in the face to bus riders”, says BRU organizer Beth
Grayer.  “In the last two years bus riders have faced increased fares,
service cuts and a TransLink imposed curfew.  Meanwhile TransLink is
spending hundreds of millions of dollars building a Skytrain system that,
even with the rerouting of buses, accounts for less than 20% of public
transit users.  You have to wonder about what’s driving the priorities at
TransLink when they are spending all this money on state of the art
Skytrain system, but they don’t seem to give a damn about the 225,000
daily bus riders paying high fares, riding overcrowded, polluting buses,
and living under curfew.”

	The Bus Riders Union is calling on TransLink to immediately restore seven
day/ week late night bus service.

	“It’s a social justice issue and a public safety issue”, says Yang Chang,
an activist with the Bus Riders Union.  “When they cut the night owl
buses it left night workers scrambling to find a way home.  Most janitors
and hotel and restaurant workers don’t make a lot of money.  They can’t
afford to keep a car going or take a cab.  But if they have to in order
to keep their jobs, they’ll spend the money, or walk ridiculously long
distances, or just spend long hours waiting for the first bus home.  Its
criminal that bus riders are forced to endure these hardships so that the
bureaucrats and politicians at TransLink can pursue their privatization
agenda or their Olympic dreams or whatever it is that’s driving the
agenda down there, because it certainly isn’t the needs of public transit
users.”

	The Bus Riders Union will host a public meeting on Thursday, June 12,
where bus riders are invited to share their experiences of the night owl
bus cuts and join together to develop strategies to fight for their
transportation needs.  The Bus Riders Union also plans to take its
demands for Night Owl buses to the next TransLink board meeting on June
25.

	“The TransLink imposed curfew is an assault on transit dependent peoples
most basic rights to mobility”, says Bus Riders Union spokesperson Martha
Roberts. “It limits our options in terms of employment and recreation, it
puts the safety of women and youth and other groups who are at risk of
violence and harassment in jeopardy, and it inhibits our full and equal
participation in the economic, political and social life of the region.”

BRU Media Contacts Martha Roberts and Aiyanas Ormond 604 215 2662


Bus Riders Union
(604) 215-2775
http://bru.resist.ca/
bru at resist.ca