You’d think that in 2024, with the government constantly spouting on about the value and strength of Canadian commerce, we would have Canadian-owned companies administrating our public transportation systems—but, no, your new Umo bus pass and app is delivered to you through a US-based defence contractor.
You read that right: a defence and public transportation equipment manufacturer based in the US owns the Umo system that BC so lovingly endorses.
I’m not a fan of giving any money or data to defence contractors or the military industrial complex for any reason. I mean, what does a defence company need with my data anyway? We’ve been trained as a society to accept convenience without asking “Where does my money go, and who does it fund?”
Umo is a part of Cubic Transportation Systems, a division of Cubic Corporation. Cubic is an international defence contractor. According to their website, Cubic prides itself on its defence, intelligence, and advanced military training techniques. In fact, the advancements they’ve made in teaching people how to kill other people are the first thing you see on their webpage.
While every country has the right to defend itself, I’m not sure military contractors align with my views as a citizen. I certainly don’t like the idea of funding military contractors on the back of my public transportation. And if I were to ask random students whether or not they knew Umo was administered by a defence contractor, how many would say yes? I doubt it would be many.
Our media is filled with tragedy resulting from wars; while Cubic may not be pulling the trigger, they train people how to do it well.
Not to mention the fact that, like most other apps, when we sign up, we allow the app to record data about ourselves.
And so, I have three major issues with the direction the BC government has decided to go with its public transportation. First off, every Camosun student is now indirectly funding military action. Secondly, a military contractor has access to some of my personal data. Lastly, I don’t have any other options except driving.
I could probably add one more: no one—not Camosun, not BC Transit, not the provincial government—has been forthcoming about the type of business we are indirectly funding here.
Whether they like it or not, people are being forced into what I think is a moral dilemma: you either drive a car or help fund military contractors. You’d think that given the environmental impact of everyone driving a car, and BC residents’ general distaste for war, the government would have tried harder to find a transportation logistics company that was Canadian and not a company that has “superior warfighting readiness” as one of its three major pillars for its defence solutions; this clashes pretty hard with Camosun’s pillars.
I might not be dying to try Umo, but someone is.