Councillor suggests free rides as a transit option

CBGirl

- September 24, 2012 at 13:08:36

How about the College and the University sponsoring the service? Are they advertising on the bus? Back 20 years ago, when CBT was a city run effort, there were ads all over the bus, inside and out. Or run a few marketing gimmicks, like buy a student pass, get your name put in a draw for something worthwhile, like an ipad or something. Advertise the public transit tax credit. Give CB tax payers a credit for their transit passes purchased in the run of a year. Turn a bus pass into something multi purpose, like a business discount card. If a number of businesses get on board by offering discounts to the holder of a bus pass, the business gets more traffic, a load of people have bus passes, and used correctly could pay for itself in a short period of time. Everyone loves a discount!

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  david

  - September 26, 2012 at 13:00:06

  Everyone here DEARLY does love a discount, that is for certian!! Except if that "discount" is in the form of freee bus rides. They did that earlier in the year, and virtually no one took advantage. What does that tell you? Is there anyone out there awake?

dogloc

- September 22, 2012 at 14:02:47

For a bus service that is not even close to paying the cost to run it, then to let people ride free is not logicial..One solution may be to sell monthly or yearly passes at a fair rate thus allowing people to ride the buses at any time & to any place the system allows.We live in a world where you get nothing for nothing & very little for a $1.

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David

- September 21, 2012 at 14:58:15

See here's the tihng....in cities with a central, compact, high-density "downtown", not only does the idea of free transit make sense --- to reduce traffic and parking chaos ---- but an identifiable "downtown" is also a requisite concept that supports the entire premise of an area being a candidate for public transit....that there exists one or more central destination zones for many passengers. Corner Brook has completely ignored all the fundamantals of transit...other than to acquire buses for a ridiculously low upfront cost, and worry about the details later. Or never. Epic Fail.

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dennis

- September 21, 2012 at 14:58:09

Transit is almost always subsidized, especially in small places like CB. In large cities, transit takes cars of the road, reduces congestion, and emmissions. That is the major benefit. In CB, any transit objectives do not relate to these seen in large urban places. In places like CB, transit is in place to primarily facilitate transportation for those that cannot afford other transportation options (e.g., car, taxi). Usually transit is in place for low income people and students in places like CB. Ultimately, the question is whether the City deems it important enough to find a way to achieve a transit solution that at least attempts to meet the needs of these people whether that means increasing of decreasing the existing subsidies and whether that means eliminating fares or changing service or not. In my opinion, CB needs an effective transit solution to achieve its objectives of becoming a large educational center. I will put forth the following comparison - the City spent $4m or so on a curling club for about 100-150 people. Surely, public transit will not be abandoned or significantly reduced. I don't think Councillor Kelly's, idea is far fetched at all. It lines up nicely with the objectives in the City's economic development plan.

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gerry

- September 21, 2012 at 13:08:28

I don't know if it's brainstorming or brain farting. Someone has to pay for this service and the people of Corner Brook have shown over and over again that they do not support any attempts to improve life in this town.

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George

- September 21, 2012 at 12:26:06

From a business perspective the system can not possibly work by further reducing the hours of operation.The fixed costs like bus leases,insurance,liability insurance,depreciation,salaries,workmans compensation and payroll burden are just a few cost that run 24 hr. a day.Most people including Coun.Kelly do not understand the true cost of running a business because they have never had to run a business.Gary Kelly should not compare the tiny town of Cornerbrook to Halifax because we have two different business models.

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John Hickey

- September 21, 2012 at 09:31:01

I like the way councillor Kelly thinks, however I question the feasability of such a move.. Giving free rides on the transit system is clearly NOT the answer. The best way to tackle the problems of cost and efficiency in Corner Brook is to adjust the schedules to coincide with the times that riders use the system the most. During peak periods, such as early morning and late afternoon and evening , when riders need to get to and from work or school, the service should be on and frequent, whereas during slow periods throughout the day it should be scaled back to perhaps one trip every 2 hours to accommodate shoppers and people doing downtown business. Another thing to consider is the cost to the consumer for each trip. Having a fare structure that's barely below the cost of taking a cab or car pooling is not encouraging to people who would use the system. Keep the fares low and only provide service when people are likely to use it would keep the subsidizing at a minimum yet still provide a much needed service to the city.. If the service is discontinued there are no winners, except maybe the taxi companies.. If anybody has other viable suggestions to make that would result in the continuation of service in the city, I would strongly urge you to voice said suggestions either here or at council meetings. A city without a transit system is not functioning up to it's potential..

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