Candidate Questionnaire and Response

We sent all of the candidates in the current Provincial ELection a questionnaire about TripEd. You can view their responses below.

1) Would you be in favour of an educational group transit pass, as outlined above? Why?

2)The high cost of transit is contributing to a decline in attendance at arts, science and cultural destinations. Do you think that a Translink group transit pass program for youth age 5-18 would have economic benefits in our communities? How?

3)The U-Pass will soon be universally available to post secondary students. The environmental, educational, and economic justifications for the U-Pass also support the need for a group transit pass program for youth age 5-18. How do you think this proposal would help address equitable access to our rich and diverse community resources for all children and youth?

4)The majority of youth group transit trips would be during off peak hours. Increased ridership is also a stated goal of the Translink 2040 Plan. However, a long range Translink plan/policy for youth that habituates Transit use is not part of the Translink 2040 Plan. Is such a plan necessary? What should be it’s goals and why?

RESPONSES FROM CANDIDATES

Ryan Windsor–BC Green Candidate West Vancouver-Capilano

1. Yes, I would support this initiative given the likelihood of trips occurring in off peak hours and not displacing other riders. Whether the nominal fee is $10 or some other amount this is a reasonable initiative that would not lead to daily overcrowding of the bus service.

2. The benefits of this program would be long term, students would be better equipped for post-secondary education if there school programs involved increased community experience in cultural and scientific field trips. We should be thinking long term in our assessment of economic stability and this would be a contribution to that goal.

3. Many destinations for cultural and scientific learning are located far from schools and communities in the Lower Mainland. Bus service to these destinations would be helpful in breaking down geographic barriers. As long as the schools properly liaise with transit in trip planning access to learning resources become just a bus ride away.

4. In order for Transit to grow and improve people must learn to use the system and call for improvements where necessary. Concentrating power in an unaccountable board is the result of not enough users being diligent in calling for accountability. Also with climate change being an issue that is taught in schools we must be able to demonstrate to children that there are real and practical decisions they can make that take the problem from being an abstract issue to a concrete problem with achievable solutions. Children also tend to have innovative solutions by having them ride transit they may brainstorm solutions for improving transit.

Charlie Wyse, NDP Candidate, Chilcotin-Cariboo:

As the NDP candidate for Cariboo-Chilcotin and a former teacher, I think overcoming financial barriers to our students getting these types of experiences is something that needs to be addressed by our education and transportation policies. However, as you can imagine, this is mostly an issue in large urban areas. Here, we have very little in the way of a public transit system. In fact, the emerging issue in the Interior is that students are now being charged to take the bus just to get to school.

Gary Holman:

The NDP has strong commitment, both to public transit and to educational opportunities. In addition, the problem of lack of opportunity for children in poverty, is one which we shall address with vigour if elected on 12 May.

In particular, I would draw your attention to the following statements from the NDP Platform Document::

• Make necessary capital investments in needed bus and transit options in MetroVancouver to cut congestion and pollution.

• Tune-up TransLink. The Campbell Liberals’ approach to TransLink has resulted in expensive privatization schemes, decisions made in secret and dictated by the Campbell government. The NDP will repeal Bill 43 to restore democratic control and public accountability to local government and taxpayers.

The specific questions in your e-mail will require a more detailed study since you are looking for analysis of a number of issues. Given the pressure on our office resources in this constituency, this will inevitably take some time and I would be unlikely to be able to complete it prior to the Election, given the large number interest groups who are also seeking responses.

However, please be assured that I consider that the points you make are extremely valid and, if elected, I will bring them to the attention of Carole James and my fellow MLA’s.

Huguette Allen, Candidate, Vernon-Monashee Green Party:

Thanks for bringing this important issue to candidates’ attention. As you can see in our greenbook (www.bcgreens.ca) our policies are all in favour of increasing public transit. I have also initiated Carpooling with carpool.ca in my riding two years ago and am working on getting the train back on track.

Christin Geall

Thank you for sending an email to all the Green Party candidates on your proposed “Trip Ed” pass for groups of children (and their supervisors) to travel on public transit for educational field trips.

You state that “Current transit policy toward class field trips varies from community to community”. The Green Party is committed to expanding the authority of municipal and regional governments in the area of transportation, and will propose new funding formulas to ensure that there is sufficient financial support for this responsibility. We believe that this is the right approach to issues such as who qualifies for concessionary fares on transit and what these concessions might be. These are, of course, subject to overriding concerns with expansion of sustainable transportation options such as transit, as well as ensuring that there is adequate funding for education.

You asked four specific questions

1 Would you be in favour of an educational group transit pass, as outlined above? Why?

This should be the decision of the municipally controlled transit authority who would have to judge local needs and priorities based on a wide range of competing worthy cases. This type of decision should not be imposed on communities by a provincial government.

2. The high cost of transit is contributing to a decline in attendance at arts, science and cultural destinations. Do you think that a Translink group transit pass program for youth age 5-18 would have economic benefits in our communities? How?

This should be determined by a democratically responsible regional transportation body. Translink does not represent such an arrangement at present. The high cost of transit is only one of a number of influences contributing to these trends, and while a local community may decide to introduce such a pass, the Green Party would wish to see some of the underlying trends changed. This would include strengthening local economies as outlined in the “Green Book”.

3. The U-Pass will soon be universally available to post secondary students. The environmental, educational, and economic justifications for the U-Pass also support the need for a group transit pass program for youth age 5-18. How do you think this proposal would help address equitable access to our rich and diverse community resources for all children and youth?

This assumption is based on a recent announcement by the Premier. The Green Party does not accept that this is the appropriate level for such decisions. The Premier did not make any commitment to fund this promise, or indicate how it would be paid for. It is not necessarily the case that it will be implemented: this depends on the results of this election. While a cheap U-Pass is popular with students and has increased ridership to the two institutions which it is currently employed, it has had significant impacts on operating costs and over crowding at peak periods. The U-Pass decision also had to be ratified by the students themselves. The current government’s attitude that it can impose costly requirements on local governments with no funding commitment is not the approach that would be used by the Green Party.

4. The majority of youth group transit trips would be during off peak hours. Increased ridership is also a stated goal of the Translink 2040 Plan. However, a long range Translink plan/policy for youth that habituates Transit use is not part of the Translink 2040 Plan. Is such a plan necessary? What should be it’s goals and why?

The Green Party believes that an expansion of transit to all parts of the community on as wide a geographic basis as feasible is an important step to both increase transportation choice and produce more sustainable communities. The first priority has to be to increase transit service provision. People of all demographic groups will start to use transit more when it is both available to them and convenient to use. These concerns must be the prime consideration of any long term transportation plan in all regions of BC.

Daniel Quinn Green Party Candidate,North Vancouver-Seymour:

Would you be in favour of an educational group transit pass, as outlined
above? Why?

What you propose sounds only reasonable and your statement about the cost of a single trip adding up to $100 is sadly, not surprising. The Green Party recognises that education isn’t an expense, but an investment. In other words, money goes in, smarter people come out and those people generate far more money than we needed to spend in the first place.

The TripEd pass sounds like a great idea. If elected, you can expect me to
work with you on getting it working.

J-M Toriel BC Green Party Vancouver-Langara

We have a better plan for transportation in BC. We believe that we must invest in transportation to improve transportation for younger British Columbians. I will answer your questions below:

Would you be in favour of an educational group transit pass, as outlined above? Why?

Absolutely. We need to invest in our children and encourage them to engage in field trips and public libraries, etc. for proper learning experiences outside the classroom without any barriers restricting participation due to transportation fees.

The high cost of transit is contributing to a decline in attendance at arts, science and cultural destinations. Do you think that a Translink group transit pass program for youth age 5-18 would have economic benefits in our communities? How?

Absolutely. Providing opportunities for our youth early will mean long-term participation in attending arts, science and culture well into the future. This would benefit our children’s learning experiences as well as boost our local economies in arts and science in and our public institutions.

The U-Pass will soon be universally available to post secondary students. The environmental, educational, and economic justifications for the U-Pass also support the need for a group transit pass program for youth age 5-18. How do you think this proposal would help address equitable access to our rich and diverse community resources for all children and youth?

It would help address equitable access to our youth. This should be available to all children ages 5-18 across the province.

The majority of youth group transit trips would be during off peak hours. Increased ridership is also a stated goal of the Translink 2040 Plan. However, a long range Translink plan/policy for youth that habituates Transit use is not part of the Translink 2040 Plan. Is such a plan necessary? What should be it’s goals and why?

A long-term Translink plan should enable incentives for youth to increase ridership. I am attaching out Transportation Policy below:

The Green Party is committed to improving the quality of life in communities by providing a variety of clean, affordable, and efficient transportation options. These options include walkable neighbourhoods, cycling networks and infrastructure, bus systems that provide frequent and affordable service, and rail of all forms (light rail, commuter and distance passenger rail and freight). Evidence shows we cannot build our way out of traffic grid-lock. Building new superhighways and bridges simply leads to urban sprawl and increases long-term overcrowding.

Our Key Goals:

- Limit urban sprawl

- Encourage walking and cycling

- Improve public oversight of transportation system planning

BC Greens Will

- Prioritize provincial, regional and municipal transportation policy and projects, according to the following hierarchy: Pedestrians, Cycling, Transit, Commercial and Goods Vehicles, Taxis, High Occupancy Vehicles, Single Occupant Vehicles

- Ensure the provincial government pays the fair share cost of major capital transport infrastructure, including transit and cycling facilities

- Implement tax-shifting policies that encourage the use of and pay for the provision of sustainable transportation options such as transit, cycling and walking

- Re-establish BC Ferries as a Crown corporation with a mandate to serve the BC public as a waterway extension of the public highway system and require that all BC ferries be built in BC

- Cancel all Gateway projects, including new bridge construction, highway widening in the lower mainland and the pipeline project in the north and the energy corridor through central BC

- Establish community rail service on, but not limited to, the E&N Railway on Vancouver Island and the former Interurban Line in the Fraser Valley

- Require all Official Community Plans to include a complete streets policy, detailing plans for pedestrians, cyclists and people in wheelchairs and other assistive modes of transportation

- Tie ICBC rates to the distance driven (Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) vehicle insurance), vehicle type and vehicle age

- Expand the HOV network

- Introduce Location Efficient Mortgages, enabling car-free citizens to afford housing in urban centres

- Study the implementation of various incentives and disincentives that support sustainable transportation infrastructure, such as tax increment financing, tax base sharing, vehicle registration fees, congestion pricing, local option sales taxes, and parking site taxes

Many thanks for encouraging better transportation policies for our youth in the province.

Mary-Ann Graham BC Conservative MLA Candidate Kelowna-Lake Country

Thank you for your questionnaire. I believe transit is a vital aspect of protecting our environment and using the public transit for educational purposes would certainly be beneficial to the education system and the transit system.

1. Yes I would support an educational group transit pass because it would expose children, their parents and their teachers to transit which could increase its use which would increase revenue which would offset any cost that this program would incur. The school district is having a tough time with their budget and this could alleviate some of the costs for field trips and also the concern for car seats for younger children in personal cars. I would propose that perhaps we could use public transit for transporting kids to school as well. The cost would have to be determined because of the time of day it would be needed would conflict with the regular commuters. It is a thought.

2. There is two answers to this one. First we need to ensure that all parts of the city have these destinations available to them. Second, yes, I think some sort of group pass would be appropriate. Somehow I would like to group these passes together but at this time I do not have all the answers.

3. I agree with the U-pass. The transit system, at present, does have reduced rates for children and youth who are in school. We need to allow all not just children to have access to all our resources. Again, I think we need to address all the passes together. We need to ensure that facilities that we have invested money into, are accessible to those who wish to use them. I would like to see a holistic look at these all these services to ensure the best bang for the buck. There are different interests at stake here and all could be winners.

4. I truly believe that if we get children use to riding the bus and the bus gets them to where they actually want to go that they will have positive attitudes toward the public transit system and continue to use it as they get older and become adults. Positive habits and attitudes that we instill in the youth will stay with them and will be passed onto the next generation. We need to encourage alternative transportation. Perhaps on off-peak hours, the cost of using the bus should be less since they are on the road anyways half empty. More revenue is still more revenue. The ultimate goal is to increase ridership so there are less cars on the road.

The transit is the responsibility of the province through BC Transit and the local government. I believe that BC Transit should be putting more money into the local transit for all regions to take a more definite stand on alternative transportation to protect the environment. The government has recently announced a lot of money to be put into the road infrastructure in the Central Okanagan. This is not a revenue maker. Actually improving the standards of our bus system would increase our ridership and therefore the revenue to help to sustain it in the future. I believe in investing money where it can actually produce revenue as well as those services that are truly needed to make our society run efficiently for all who live here. Road improvements are required but should they be a priority where it is not a safety issue?

I will understand if you want to edit my comments. If you wish me to resubmit it, I will. I sat on the Regional Transit Committee for six years up to seven years ago and fought for improved transit especially for Ellison and Black Mountain. They were made priorities but it took until this past year for anything to occur. I was very disappointed that the priorities were changed once I was gone.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak on a different issue.

Gerald Singh Green Party Candidate:

My responses follow your questions.

1 Would you be in favour of an educational group transit pass, as outlined above? Why?
This should be the decision of the municipally controlled transit authority who would have to judge local needs and priorities based on a wide range of competing worthy cases. This type of decision should not be imposed on communities by a provincial government.

4. The majority of youth group transit trips would be during off peak hours. Increased ridership is also a stated goal of the Translink 2040 Plan. However, a long range Translink plan/policy for youth that habituates Transit use is not part of the Translink 2040 Plan. Is such a plan necessary? What should be it’s goals and why?