Pretty good interview, Ms. Merrick was well prepared. The problem with one of her main platform planks, the transit system, is that the system we have is not efficient.

We have too many empty busses riding around, especially at night. I think the transit system can work with the budget it has. Cut some of the routes that aren’t being used.

Candidate Merrick is one of the few options for City Hall that is actually thinking about the short term and the long term at the same time. Public transit is one of the cornerstones to developing a sustainable city. We cannot continue to have a vehicle for every working driver in the house. It is just pouring money down the drain. The automobile is not a capital assess. Parking lots are wasted space. And roads just get worse with time. It is an operating expense with little or no return. However, currently in Prince George, most people would define the car as a necessity, not an option.

It is interesting to observe that in Vancouver (and many other viable cities), current housing and commercial development is located around access points to public transit. While the century of the automobile is not over, Henry Ford’s vision of community is no longer viable.

And JB, perhaps its time that old codgers like you and me accept that candidates like MS. Merrick see the world differently than we do. And that is a good thing. She is bright, well prepared, has fresh ideas and is committed. Works for me!

access = asset …

JohnnyBelt, I will have to disagree. If you cut back on routes, then you make the system less efficient and a less reliable form of transportation. Ridership would fall. Its a bit of a catch 22, you have to spend money on the system to increase efficiency, for ridership to grow. If you spend only based on the ridership now, you hinder future growth.

Its’ a chicken and egg issue. Which comes first, better ridership or better serivce? But I can tlel you that ridership keeps going up anyway. Sure, the busiest bus goes to unbc but those students don’t just live along 15th Ave. They transfer to buses going to other parts of the city. Take away those feeder routes which don’t get quite as many riders and boom, some of the ridership on the uni route will disappear.

Besides people have to be able to get to work, get home, get to recreation, etc. for transit to make sense. I once challenged city council to use the bus for one work day, including a council meeting. One told me point blank he couldn’t because he wouldn’t be able to get home after council meeting (that was when council started later). Well, go figure, because that’s what regular transit riders run into all the itme.

I like her ideas. I liek that she has innovative ideas. I like that she’s being honest about tax increases. We need someone like Jillian on council.

Nice haircut Ben. And a good interview as well.

There’s a perception that the transit system in Prince George is inefficient, but that perception is based on poor measurements. If we looks at the facts, the PG transit systems costs about $3.25 per ride, and the municipality is on the hook for 30% of that. The average cost per ride for transit across the province is $4.50 – PG is operating its transit system at a $1.25 less than the provincial average – now that’s efficiency! Since 1999, transit service levels in Prince George have increased 40% but ridership has increased 270%. We are getting a huge return on very small investments.

Using spot checks on buses is a poor measurement. Let’s compare transit to roads. I could sit out on my street all day, and only see a vehicle drive by once an hour at most, with the exception of peak periods. Does that mean we should close my street because it’s not being used to its full potential? Of course not! A good transportation system is there when you need it, and everyone has different needs.

And thank you everyone for the thoughtful comments and feedback!. You can call me directly at 250-561-0562 or read more on my campaign website jillianforcouncil dot com.

Good for you Jillian. Not sure I agree with everything you said, but is seems to me you are coming from a perspective which is about the city and not about special interests groups. You are speaking out directly as yourself, something city hall could use as an example. You have run a campaign on keeping expenses down and getting people involved. I am impressed.

So we should expect our taxes to go up yearly 2.5% because of inflation while the majority of the people’s wages stay the same? How many businesses in PG are giving 10% raises over the next 4 years? Not the teacher, the nurses or the sawmill/pulpmill workers. Council should be working to spend according to tax base and not beyond it. Telling me I should expect to pay more because of the the cities mismanagement is not ok.

Not a bus rider anymore, but I was for years and I’m very happy to see a candidate actually showing interest in transit! Maybe holiday service would be a start?

My wife and I were both impressed with Jillian Merrick. She was confident, well spoken and sensible. She has a firm understanding of how things work in Prince George and she would be a good city councillor.

@superdave. its ok, You just don’t get it.

anotherside: “And JB, perhaps its time that old codgers like you and me accept that candidates like MS. Merrick see the world differently than we do. And that is a good thing. She is bright, well prepared, has fresh ideas and is committed. Works for me!”

Fair enough. I don’t use public transit, as is the case with most people in the City. My observation over the past 30 years or so that I’ve lived here is that we’re a car town. I think the current transit system needs to improve before we start throwing money at it.

At the end of the day, transit is not a big issue to me, I’m just a taxpayer who drives to work. It’s all fine and good that transit matters to people and Ms. Merrick, but there are many other huge issues in the City that need to be tackled as well. I’m just not hearing enough about that.

JohnnyBelt, how do you propose the transit system improves without increasing its budget? We’re a car town, b/c the transit system isn’t up to par.

It is hilarious listening to this ludicrous argument. In a big city it is FASTER and less of a headache to take transit to reach your place of employment. The same can’t be said here. The longest commute in a car may take half an hour at the worst from the Hart to the BCR.
How are you going to convince people to take a longer more circuitous route to work? Especially if that have to transfer to a second bus. It will NEVER happen.

15 minutes in a vehicle or an hour on the bus that doesn’t even take you to your exact destination. Walking on our sidewalks in winter is horrible.

I remember the busses weren’t even running when we got that deep snowfall. Some of my family takes the bus and waited an hour and the bus still didn’t show.

The city paid BC Transit $3.7 million dollars to make up the shortfall between fares collected and cost of running the system. Ms. Merrick proposes to increase this subsidy by a further 600 thousand a year or to put it another way $10,000 a day to almost 12,000.00 a day subsidy. To pay for this she would cut a park and the installation of a traffic light, ok that covers this year. What about next year and the year after than etc, etc. Tax increases? Fare increases? Tooth fairy?

I know that the increase in taxes and utilities paid to the city have exceeded the inflation rate by at least double the last few years which would be ok with me if the money was used to maintain what we have and bring existing infrastructure up to acceptable standards.

Of all the problems facing the city, IMO transit would be pretty far down the list. To have that as the main plank in platform for me means she is not x-worthy on election day. Tax and spend-spend and tax.

I think what most people are missing here is how much cheaper it is to use transit, Sure its cold and snowy sometimes but you save $$$.

If that doesn’t appeal to you then that is fine. To some people transit is their lifeline. Without transit I likely could not have afforded University, caring for a CAR on top of tuition, no thanks.

Transit isn’t for everyone, but it can be if you try. People who work 9-5 downtown, would be shocked at how easy it is to use transit. takes 25 mins to work and 20 home.

If everyone took transit into downtown it would solve a bunch of issues!

Transit in Prince George, like the rest of the Province is a necessary evil. It serves its purpose for a certain segment of society, however most people prefer, and do, travel to and from work by car. That’s the way it is.

One reason for the increase in bus ridership, is the high cost of a vehicle, gas, insurance, etc;. The other is the fact that the various levels of Government, Government entities, and some business interests, are increasing taxes, user fee’s, and costs on a yearly basis, without any consideration to the impact of these increases on the public at large. Reducing the amount of spendable income, forces people to make some changes, and taking a bus is one result.

Merrick should take some time to look at peoples ability to pay these increases in taxes before she suggests an annual increase. Medium to low income people do not get increases in their income that come close to the increases forced on them by various Governments, etc;

BC Transit is one of many Government entities, that are overstaffed, over paid, underworked, and irresponsible when it comes to spending tax dollars. They should clean house, before they get another red cent.

Anyone with the mentality that the solution to a problem is to increase taxes, doesn’t get my vote.

What I believe we need is an express route that starts at the Hart and Blackwater area at the same times, going down the highway or frontage rd as necessary and going down 5th and 15th to downtown so that health workers, government workers and others near those main arteries can get to/from work in about 1/2 hour rather than 1.5 hours with bus changes and waits at transfer station. I tried once and either arrived at work 30 min early by leaving around 6:30 a.m or 45 min late. Going home was either leaving at 4 p.m. and getting home around 6:00 or working till 5 and getting home at 6:30 p.m. Convinced me to use my vehicle and get to work in 15 min. Called transit operator and they were not interested in hearing my views. Would be nice to have someone on council who is not mesmerized by the mega projects but looks at the day to day problems for working folk.

Not knowing anything about Jillian I was pleasantly surprised with this interview. This prodded me to investigate her website and Facebook page and participate in conversations about what she stands for.

Transit: I currently drive back and forth to work and pay for parking. On the few times I have taken the bus home to the Hart from CNC it takes me at least an hour instead of the 20 minutes by vehicle.

Shorten my commute and I would be happy to take transit at least half of the time.