I boarded a bus on Graham yesterday afternoon and the transfer printer had some paper stuck on it.
One of the other fare inputs were blocked with tissue.
The bus operator said "I cannot give you a transfer, you'll have to get one on your next bus."
I didn't get it at the time, but the driver was basically saying "hop aboard (and ride for FREE). You don't have to pay a fare because the machine is BROKEN. You'll need to pay your fare next bus and get a transfer if you need one." Because I didn't want to take up the driver's time I just got another bus behind it.
Does anyone have stats. on how many fareboxes at any one time are BROKEN?
Which brings up the point of the OCTranspo fare boxes. I can see WT getting rid of them and replacing them with more reliable units <5 yrs. from now, if not sooner.
And as far as the 50/50 Transit funding goes and such. Remember that back in the late 90s under the Filmon regime, WT had faced cutbacks too. There was talk of privatizing WT. So maybe, as Pallister is Filmon 2.0, he is cutting back funding because he wants to sell off parts (suburban routes?) to a private company. I'd be OK with that on the condition that the service company uphold good frequent service in the areas that they cover.
Also, Katz wanted that "Transit Authority" (lets call it CRT for Capital Region Transit) to replace or have them oversee WT. The
PMCR is also in favour of such an organization. What is holding up the follow-through on doing it? I'd bet its the Transit Union. Not surprising.