Transit Plebiscite

[Silverski wolf]

I'm all for translink and all the convenience of the skytrain and buses for those who do not own a vehicle. But over the years a lot of money has gone missing and the service has not gotten any better. If the Taxes get raised Tokar brings a really good point. people love saving that buck, and if the taxes go up then the location of the cheaper stuff moves on, and thus bringing its customers further away from those so called new BCtranslink features.

That's why im voting no, i rely on the transit as a big part to get to my job yet i do not trust them one bit with anything. could be im stuck on the 4billion that went missing, or all the suicidal jumpers over the years : l until transit can fix the money missing and the security my vote will always be a no.

i have a few more things that could also be said as to why im voting no but those are the main ones.

I have to agree there, and I drive.  I am all for seeing improvements to our transit system, but I cannot justify giving them more money with how money is already managed there.  Iv seen way too much wasted already.  Another issue I have is raising the provincial sales tax, just for this.  That's a pretty heavy duty change to make there.  Its going to cost everyone more, including those who financially struggle (your increasing sales tax, no one is exempt from this...).

[notpc]

Think about this and then go vote NO!

Regardless of the result they will still do all those improvements anyway. The world WILL NOT END if the NO side wins!

The amount of money and effort spent pushing for support of the YES side along with the "kittens and rainbows" messaging means there is something really wrong to find if you dig into the details enough.

A NO side win will just mean they have to find a different funding mechanism. Then again, because it is NON-BINDING, they might still go ahead with the tax anyway and then have to face angry voters. The main reason why it is being done as a plebiscite is so that if the YES side wins they can insulate themselves by BLAMING the voters when everyone finds out how much they are getting gouged when it is implemented. I suspect that the implementation of a new tax would be delayed until after an election.

They should instead do small increase in local taxes from more than just one source (gas taxes, property taxes, fare increases). Also they can reduce costs by increasing the service life of transit vehicles a bit instead of rushing to buy lots of new ones.

Voting NO does not mean you are voting against the proposed "improvements", it only means you are saying NO to a new tax!

Even though transit fares are relatively cheap, it does cost you a lot more than you think!  >:(

[Samurai Kai]

I voted No. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay

[Zanko]

I voted No. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay

As did I. lol

[Atom]

I voted no because with the fare increases it is now cheaper for me to drive across the city than it is to take the bus or sky train.  The increase in the fare should have supported everything.  They also made some stupid points to the tax increase, such as it will go to fund the petello bridge being rebuilt; they're just going to put a toll on the bridge like all the others so why should we pay more in taxes for it too?

[Silverski wolf]

Yesterday after hearing that they need to upgrade that rubbish bridge, I am even more glad I voted NO.  Completely poor planning on their part, as that thing should have been replaced by now.  If it was planned properly and completed today, we wouldn't be needing to waste $100 million extra on upgrading an old bridge... that is slated for replacement soon.