So the University of Regina had an election this week, and one of the things up fro debate was the Universal bus pass. It didn't pass. Everyone has been saying that the reason it was a bad idea was because the bus system in Regina is really inefficient, it's not fair to make everyone pay for a bus pass when not everyone uses the bus, and that it's not going to increase ridership by making everyone buy a bus pass.
I have a couple of things to say to this. First of, I had a revelation yesterday morning (while waiting for a bus, thank you very much) that one of the reasons no one rides the bus in Regina is because transit fares are approximately the same as any other major city ($2.10 for an adult in Regina, vs $2.75 in Toronto, $2.25 in Victoria $2.30 in Winnipeg) while parking downtown in Regina is a) a little cheaper from my recollection (particularily compared to Southern Ontario) and b) WAY more accesible.
So is the solution to reduce the availability/affordability of parking in the downtown core? I don't think that is going to do the trick. Because all it will do is piss people off when they drive downtown anyway. The key is to subsidize public transit and make it MORE efficient than driving. Which in a city the size of Regina is a difficult thing to do, seeing it's is still quite easy to get around here. The UPass and the increased express routes that it would have brought would have gone a long way towards improving transit in this city. I will admit that I'm a socialist and maybe a little idealistic but I really don't see the $69 a semester as that big of a cost for the a) increased express routes and b) savings of those students that DO take the bus and are paying what? $60 a MONTH for their passes? Not to mention the environmental effect of even a few more people taking the bus.
Ah, anyway, enough of my ranting, I need to go clean up the disaster Dani's daughter has made of the kitchen in the two hours since I cleaned it. Growl.
