Bus Fare Increase?
I’m bothered by the article in today’s local newspaper about the potential for another hike in public transit fares (”Hike in bus fares feared“; London Free Press; Norman de Bono; 2009/11/12).
The union’s demands could force an increase in bus fares of about 15% because fares account for 60% of the LTC’s revenue. About 35% comes from the city and 5% from the province, said Ducharme.
London Transit users have historically paid proportionately much more to ride the bus than riders in other comparably-sized cities. And that 35% that Mr. Ducharme refers to includes a significant increase to it’s share by the city this year. It’s been much worse previously. Our City Council has always under-funded the service.
But notwithstanding the fact that they deserve a lot of it, let’s not just blame City Hall.
The LTC administration has never been particularly politically militant about trying to educate the public about the underfunding issue. Like the administrators of other local public services, they’re happy to get paid very well for the work that they do, and they don’t rock the political boat too much. The fact that they administer services doesn’t necessarily reflect any vested interest in anything more than their own personal renumeration. Providing good service to the end users from an end user’s perspective often doesn’t seem to be a particularly high priority. As long as their political masters aren’t overly unhappy, that seems to be enough.
I’d love to have accurate data about how much the senior LTC staff, commission members and other members of City Council rely upon public transit to get around town. Not very damn much, I’m guessing.
You can bet that if they had to rely on the bus to get places all of the time, that the service would be more adequate. It might even become good.
But Hunniford dismissed that argument, saying…gas prices have receded…increased student rates…a city hall budget increase…
The other side deserves equal criticism. At a time when so many people are out of work or underemployed, the argument that they’re only trying to catch up to bus operators in other cities or other city employees simply isn’t credible. For one thing, it presupposes that those other workers should be getting as much as they are.
If there’s any “extra” money, it should go towards improving the service that’s being delivered to the users.
Because our public transit service stinks, for lots more reasons than just the fare price. If you search this site you’ll have no trouble finding numerous posts that I’ve written about it.
Next year is an election year. If there’s another hike to public transit fares, then there should be a lot of people looking for new jobs shortly afterwards.
© Fowler Media
Another rise in bus prices? It’s already too high for me to consider using LTC. My irregular bus needs don’t warrant a bus pass to make the savings.
We already pay close to a 100 dollars to get NOWHERE in this city I refuse to pay a penny more. Matter of fact i’d like to pay less….even FREE
. After all I don’t own a carbon spewing gas munching vehicle. OH and when are the transit people going to switch to better fuels for their buses? In BC they have hydrogen fuel buses, some places have biodeisel. We in London are WAAAAAY behind the times.
As for an increase in salary, give me a break they don’t need 25 dollars an hour to drive a bus. They need to be paid for performance. If you are a good working, polite driver, get a raise, if you aren’t get counselling.
I feel really sad right now, because so many parents who take a bus to get their xmas hamper, won’t be able to this year. What will they say? Sorry kids but the reindeer went on strike?
LTC has a bus replacement program and some of the federal/provincial infrastructure money was earmarked for that purpose, but the details escape me. I’ll keep an eye out for them and try to remember to post them for you.