Don’t you hate it when you’re waiting at a bus stop and a crowded bus passes you by? The only thing more frustrating is when the very next bus also leaves you in the dust.
Kind of makes you want to drive your car more often, right? Except that traffic sucks, parking is expensive, and you’re burning more fossil fuels. You could cycle, but when those fall rains start pouring, your will to ride tends to get soggy.
This is where the We Ride campaign can help. An initiative of the Canadian Federation of Students and Student Action for Public Transit, the purpose of this campaign is to inform BC Transit and the Ministry of Transportation that the levels of service and funding are inadequate.
Over the past four years the University of Victoria Students’ Society and Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) have been lobbying both parties to make public transit more affordable, accessible, and frequent.
That is why the CCSS is asking everyone that gets passed up by a bus to voice exactly where and when they were left behind. One way to do so is to contact BC Transit at transitinfo@bctransit.com or call 250-382-6161, or contact the Ministry of Transportation at minister.transportation@gov.bc.ca or 250-387-1978.
Better yet, if you have a smart phone keep your eyes out for We Ride posters around bus stops, which will contain a code that you can scan; a complaint form will then come up on your phone that you can fill out and immediately send to both parties.
Doing so will be the most effective way to improve transit service, ease traffic and parking woes, and promote greener communities.