Raise the Hammer

I think my overall point here is that the U-Pass is a) inordinately cheap b) unaccountable. We don't know how many students use the HSR, at what frequency and on what routes. We do know however that the routes students use (5, 51, 1A, 10) are the most serviced and the busiest. So it can be assumed (however not reliably) that if students contribute even 6% of total farebox revenue they are probably receiving more than that in overall service.

I just find it a gross injustice that routes like Cannon and Barton have no hybrid diesel articulated busses, similar ridership and pay orders of magnitude more for their service on an individual basis.

Regarding the red herring argument that the housing situation as per McMaster is the responsibility of the city, it's tax payers and citizens. Let me remind you for a moment, Alex in particular, that McMaster is a for profit business that is also subsidized by people who make money and pay taxes. As somebody from a family who originally built on Ewen Rd in the 1940s and still resides in the Ainsleywood area I would say the situation is indeed worse. And has always been the perogative of students to defer the problems they create both for the tax base and associated infrastructure to the very citizens they are depending on to fund the programs they need.

I would ask you, at the end of the day, where does the money come from? My suggestion that we all pay fairly for public transit... why is that so offensive? Fact of the matter is that if 6% of the revenue has incentive to use transit and the remaing 94% has less with every fare increase are we getting ahead? How does that work? Let's discount based on volume of riders such that the farebox feeds into the funding apporpiately to maintain and improve service. Rather than another "students need help!" argument without much to back it up. Everyone needs help, have you looked around this city? I know most of you have. Let's share our special priviledges.