Do we get a new $2.25 coin to use?

Those diesel burning busses are not doing the Airshed any good. They drive around all day empty or almost empty.

Its time that Council quits bull s.....g the public. Do they really want us to beleive that the people who ride these buses actually own vehicles, but prefer to bus.

What a bunch of crap. Most of them cant afford a car, or the gas to run one, or the insurance.

The day that the Mayor, and the City Council, along with the 750 or so staff members at City Hall, along with IPG, the Chamber of Commerce, the DBIA, and other assorted bus;iness types start to ride the buses, that will be the day they have some credibility. Until then they are just blowing smoke.

It always amazes me that when big companies like Walmart and McDonalds notice that they're not making enough money, they have a sale. That causes more people to use their services. Has anyone in Transit thought about this? Lower the fares and see if the number of riders increases, hence increasing the revenue.

I totally agree Palopu.

Take the ridership, take the fuel that the buses use, extrapolate the emissions and energy per user/km and compare that to a single occupant 6 cylinder, 8 or so year old car.

The energy might be comparable, but the pollution due to diesel will be the killer in more ways than one.

Here is a chart develped by the US governmetn.

http://www.templetons.com/brad/transit-myth.html

A solo car occupancy is about 5,500BTU per mile.

A bus with 9 passengers is about 4,300BTU/mile

That makes it 38,000 BTU/mile for one passenger with a bit less when factoring in the weight of the passengers.

At seven passengers, the bus is as efficient as the single occupant car.

BUT, due to the fuel used the bus pollutes considerably more!!!

But hey, it feels good, doesn't it. Damn the actual analysis. You have to be part of the team!

As far as the effectiveness of using fare costs as a drawing card, I do not know who has done a study on that, but betcha someone has.

One has to look at the need and the resistance to meeting that need in different fashions.

They should do a baseline study. LOL. Same as the air sampling.

In this case the baseline is to remove fare as a factor. They might do that for one of the most popular runs or least popular runs. Run a summer and winter sampling month to be meaningful. In return, people will be subject to occasional surveys that are designed to help determine what some of the key factors are that encourage or discourage ridership.

If there is a meaningful increase, then take steps to keep that increased ridership on the buses.

Remember, when retailers put on sales, they typically do not discount every item in the store, they discount selected items. Not all routes are the same and not all days of the week are the same, and not all times of the year are the same.

"Increasing the fare by 25 cents is expected to raise $175 thousand dollars over a full year."

Can someone remember that figure? What is the total gross fare revenue over the past year and what will it be after 12 months. The difference should then be compared to the prediction.

We have to remember that is those people taking the bus have little choice, the prediction could come very close to the actual.

So, the next measure included should be the actual ridership figures. Up, down, same? Remember, this is in large part a "green" movement. The objective is to increase ridership to have people drive less and to make the system as cost recoverable as possible.

And, of course, to show everyone how green the riding of buses in this city actually is, it should apply a to be a project than can sell carbon credits!!!!! LOL.

councilor wilbur, maybe you should follow a couple of the buses on their routes and just see how much dust they kick up to pollute the air.when it's hot and dry the buses are the worst air polluters in the city.that is over and above the pollution that palopu has mentioned in his post.

When a hockey game ends at 9:30 and the last Bus is at 9:15---Buses are useless

What expansion is planned this time around?

"Do they really want us to beleive that the people who ride these buses actually own vehicles, but prefer to bus."

Some of us own vehicles but can't drive them because we have medical problems so we take the bus during the week and have our spouses drive us around on the weekend. :)

If I actually see noticeable improvement then I will be okay with this. I'm guessing I will be disappointed. If my bus could just run every half hour during business hours instead of once an hour, I would buy a monthly pass and they would make a lot more money off of me. But with the way things are right now it can sometimes take longer to ride the bus places than it does to walk. I'd rather get the free exercise. I just wonder how many more people feel the same. I know it's Prince George so there aren't going to be all that many people gravitating towards the bus anyways, but putting the fare up and maintaining crap service isn't going to attract any new riders.

But the price to not ride the bus isnt changing right? Thats really all that matters to 99% of residents.

The best way to increase bus ridership is to add a cent or two of gas tax and make the bus free.

Hey how about cycling or are ya all so much in bad shape ya can't get your fat asses to ride a bike.

You ride your bike to work chris......errrr....do you work?

Yeah I work and I ride year around.

What the hell does do I work have anything f...ing to do with it. As long as you don't pay my way asshole then leave me alone.

Even if I was a welfare f...ing bum what you going to do about it bitch.

ooopsy.....stepped on the only nerve chrisys got left.

To me it's pretty petty to bash on those who have disabilities of all sorts and paint them with the same brush. Whats with this site. A place to go to be a bigot.

I am starting my day and not pay attention to ignorant people.

i was gonig to start taking the bus to school in the fall but 2.25 each way i may as well drive because 5 bucks a day is all i need for gas and i wont have to wait in the cold.
and chrislivingdowntown I will not ride a bike because i am a cripple not evryone has the luxury of being physically abled.
and by the way my ass is FINE just cuz i dont ride doesnt make me a fatass...

i was gonig to start taking the bus to school in the fall but 2.25 each way i may as well drive because 5 bucks a day is all i need for gas and i wont have to wait in the cold.
and chrislivingdowntown I will not ride a bike because i am a cripple not evryone has the luxury of being physically abled.
and by the way my ass is FINE just cuz i dont ride doesnt make me a fatass...

Chris you are the one that started bashing people on this site, no one was picking on you!!

you need to take your meds and go ride your bike to work, and have a great day!!!

"The best way to increase bus ridership is to add a cent or two of gas tax and make the bus free."

I am with you on that "Born in BC"!! One proviso, the ridership has to go up significantly so that it actually is saving energy and reducing pollution. If not, riding buses below the required level to do that actually increases both.

I usually play a little game when I ride around town. I try to spot a bus that actually has more than 6 passengers. Beleive it or not it is not often that I find one.

Maybe early in the AM and later in the afternoon, otherwise usually 6 or less,.

Absolutley a total waste of time and money, and a very big polluter. We would be far better off to find a way for these people to take taxi's, and it would save us hundreds of thousands a year.

Problem is, once you brought in taxi's all the **Free Loaders** would turn up to take advantage of the situation, and that would screw it up.

Have a nice day.