Translink Wants To Squeeze Every Dollar From Average People Without Providing Good Service
By Dr Neelam Verma
So the world’s most polluted city, New Delhi, is now having a “car-free day”??? Living in the world’s most livable cities, Vancouver, the screaming headline made me turn green; or blue or black!!!
Why? Because the headlines in Vancouver screeched “Bridge, tunnel tolls touted to ease congestion for Metro Vancouver commuters.”
But how will people commute to work, go to school, use health services, go for movies, take their children to activities, go to the beach, attend a festival etc? Is there a plan in place to increase public transport and provide alternatives to driving to ease congestion? How long will the common man out to make an honest living and paying regular taxes which anyways do go towards maintaining bridges, tunnels, roads or translink, be squeezed like a sponge?
With an ambition to meet its promise to the UN to generate 40% of its total energy from renewable sources by 2030, New Delhi is taking baby steps. According to World Health Organization, New Delhi is the world’s most polluted city based on air quality tests in 1600 cities in 2014, with the city having an average PM2.5 level of 153, the highest concentration of all cities surveyed and ahead of New York’s reading of 14 and Beijing at 56.
Not talking about quality of air people are used to breathing, I am more impressed with the little initiative of making some days as “car free” days whatever the motive behind and encouraging people to take public transport. New Delhi’s skytrain, or the Metro as it is lovingly called, was recently ranked second among 18 international Metro systems in terms of overall customer satisfaction level. By next year, Delhi metro will have 241 stations on a network of 330 kms, surpassing the 150-year old London underground system.
By 2013, Delhi Metro was carrying as many as 2 million people every day, criss crossing the capital on its various lines and touching satellite cities. And this is just the metro. There are thousands of buses, cheap auto rickshaws who ferry passengers to and from the stations. The reason public transport, which may even be a luxurious taxi, is being encouraged due to the fact that these vehicles are mandated to use safer fuel –CNG compared to private cars which still run on petrol and diesel polluting the air.
Now compare this to about 418,000 or more commuters who take the Translink every day in Vancouver and its surrounding areas. No, this article is not about comparing population and pollution between the two cities, as there is none but more about how encouraging or discouraging commuters to use public transport.
For years since I started working downtown, I was driving every day from the Tri-cities. The reason being driving was more comfortable of course, and more so, because I had free parking. The horror stories I had heard from colleagues about Translink and watching the news, certainly was a deterrent too. Most of them had at least 1-2 horror stories to tell every week, and I would see many of them come late to work or run out the door the moment their time was done as they did not want to wait for the next bus which might not show up or be too full etc etc, etc.
The visuals on TV about stranded sky train commuters due to technical or other causes, certainly did not help me change my mind on not driving downtown. No system is perfect of course and mechanical or weather related incidents cannot escape all 365 days of the year, I reasoned. But every day there was stuff happening at home, one of kids had a game, while the other had a practice or volunteer work where they needed to be driven on time or had to be picked up from somewhere. I can’t be late every day, I told myself not to say that I was stuck in traffic many times too. But on an average when I did the math, the difference in cost and time spent on the road driving or taking the public transport, was almost the same. So why not spend time listening to my favorite radio station, the news, the weather, the sales etc in my own comfort zone rain or shine than be stuck on a platform and calling the kids every minute to tell them that its ok to miss one game or practice. Even if I was stuck in a traffic jam, I could still make it slightly late.
Life is never the same and things changed in my life too. My chicks developed wings and flew away to the campus and this bird was not ready to roost early. All of a sudden, I didn’t have a time crush, (though it took me a year to realize that I didn’t have to rush home as there was no one waiting). So, why was I still driving, sitting sternly behind the wheel in a yogic mudra, in mind boggling traffic (mind you, traffic has more than doubled since I first started driving to downtown), cursing my fellow drivers for not following rules, getting honked at when I was driving within speed limits, not slow and being shown the finger many a time.
While I am at it, I would like to ask authorities, is it illegal to drive at the speed limit? So when you have signs posted for 50km, does it mean you can’t drive over this speed limit or under it? What if you are at exactly 50km/hr? You give us poor commuters a ticket if we go over but other civilians (hope they are mostly civil! Well, no civil person would show a finger though), honk at you if you drive at 50km/hour. Please your honour!! Enlighten us!
Coming back to my commuting woes, I decided to try our famous West Coast Express, which Translink always raves about. But I am so happy (again happiness is not forever) that we did not have the messy skytrain. So I thought, why not try The Train, as everyone referred to so respectfully.
The Train – so, how do I get to it was the question? If I park and ride, that will add cost to my daily commute and there would be no incentive anymore. After much confusion, turbulence and befuddling in my head and to anyone who cared to listen to my calculative confabulation, I decided to take the community’s cute little buses to the station. I would rather spend half an hour extra than add dollars to my commute as I have none to spare.
The first few months went fine, I was getting used to the Honorable Train getting delayed every other day, mechanical or CN Rail issues et al. I would roll up my eyes, curse under my breath but stay put. Well, there is nowhere to go as getting off the train in the middle of nowhere was not an option. I look around me and see I am the only one cursing. Rest of my fellow passengers were either glued to their phones, reading away newspapers, solving
sudoko puzzles, or coolly just snoring away. No one seemed to mind at all. Oh! What a group of callous common people, I thought.
Obviously everyone was now accustomed to the delays that they tried to make the best of the situation. I too have a data charged phone but I would like to leave the social networking and posting a status every time the train was delayed, to the mousy ones. I decided to carry a book with me too and soon realized that getting back to reading, (which was always a passion but lately had become an option), was enjoyable.
I soon realized that I was looking forward to that half an hour of reading, morning and evening and did not have to worry about carrying a fit bit anymore. Out of the 10,000 steps which is the minimum an adult should be doing every day, I was doing close to 5000 by just coming and going to work. Which just meant, cutting down on my exercise time and in fact was missing those steps on weekends.
Every day I would see the same people and it would assure me that I am in my usual compartment and it is like any other day. There were two cyclists every day and I would make sure to leave
those seats for them to harness their vehicles, a group of older ladies talking about their grandchildren and how sweet and adorable they are growing up to be and were sharing (or competing) whose grandchild did what! (No I was not eavesdropping, they just
were too loud). I was enjoying my “me” time and did not want to make friends with anyone, lest they intrude. Then there was a young couple madly in love each other, who just couldn’t keep their hands and lips off each other and would always be standing despite
the fact that there were vacant seats everywhere. They just wanted to be the first to get off and get on the ramp with their cars before others could say gas. I got used to the passengers clogging the exit doors just when the prestigious Train left Waterfront and then running down the stairs to their parked cars.
Though I did not have a car parked at the station, I still had to run to the bus as it is timed to leave just 5 minutes after the train arrives at the station. There has to be enough time
for me to run down the station, scan the compass card, climb up the stairs and reach the bus bay. And if you are a couple of seconds late, you had it!! The bus would be full and you wait for the next which is half an hour at least, that is if it doesn’t get cancelled. But I was enjoying the adrenaline rush.
Like I said earlier, things changed and our community buses became moody and stopped showing up in the morning. I signed up for alerts and soon realized that every morning and afternoon, just around peak time, the community buses are getting cancelled left right and centre. It took me a few days to realize that the bus, which was timed to reach train station just 5 minutes before the train arrived, was being missed. This started in mid-August of this year. Every morning I was stranded with other fellow passengers, waiting for the bus, and then mistakenly for the next one and the next which never came. As a result, we were missing the train too.
I decided to be an activist and started emailing Translink every time this happened and never got a response except for the standard no-reply ones till I decided to cc the Mayor on one of my many emails. Two of my fellow passengers would just smirk at me when I told them that I was sending email right now complaining about the missed bus. “Nice try,” said one. “I don’t care,” said the other. “I have decided to move downtown now. Can’t handle Translink anymore.” “I am renting. So I am moving too”, said another one.
Well, they didn’t care but I did since I had no place to move to. The email to the Mayor did flutter some feathers and finally I got a response. One said tersely “because of the fumes on the buses, some drivers and passengers were getting sick.” So, how long do we have to suffer, I asked. Why wasn’t there a press release explaining to the passengers what is happening and to warn them to have a plan B in place. No response.
Next day I got a call from someone from Translink trying to apologize and beat around the bush about the same issue but still no date as to when things will finally be in order. “I want to know when my life will be normal? I don’t want to pay for the pass, and drive to work and pay additional gas and parking. The WCE pass itself is expensive.” I argued. “Give me a date so I don’t buy the expensive pass.” Instead, the representative from Transink curtly told me, “Since you don’t like Translink, I am sure you will not ride with us anymore.” Did I say that? When? Where?
Disgusted, I hung up on him. So, since I complain too much I am being discouraged to ride Translink. I am the black sheep and not welcome anymore!!They just want to ferry mute cows in their vehicles and not anyone who brays, barks and hos!!! Do I hee-haw too much? Do I have any rights?
So there is one public transport which doesn’t care about their customers, because they are getting your dollars anyway – via property taxes, college tuition, parking etc and then there is another one on the other side of the world, giving incentives so everyone takes public transport. Need we compare?
As for me, I am back to driving, meandering through snail traffic during peak times, gridlocked with big trucks threatening my little Honda with their enormity, turn left or right without a blink looking for construction or other traffic signs, jockeying for my position in the lane. Hey buddy, I followed the rules, am in my lane, followed the merge sign and now you want to butt in!! Not going to happen. I have a finger too! All this, woefully mine – the hoi polloi.
(Disclaimer: This article is a personal experience only and not meant to malign anyone, group or company)
