BC mayors can't agree on TransLink funding

BC mayors agree on one thing: TransLink’s two week period for input in July wasn't enough, and TransLink must give the public more of a chance to respond to a new funding plan that includes an extra two cents per litre in gas taxes.  However, mayors remain divided on TransLink's proposal for paying for new transit projects.

Vancouver mayor Gregor "Extreme Green" Robertson and Surrey's Diane Watts support the plan, while the mayors of Burnaby, Delta, and Richmond are among its strongest opponents.  If this proposal fails, The Globe and Mail notes, "it will be the latest in a long string of failed efforts over the past two years to find a solution to TransLink’s $400-million share for the long-awaited Evergreen line to serve the region’s northeast cities – and ultimately, to find a formula for paying for future transit projects."

Besides the new gas tax, which would see Lower Mainlanders paying 17 cents per litre in local taxes alone on gas, TransLink is also pushing for extra property taxes.  The plan would only cover new projects, and would require the provincial government to pony up additional funding as well, potentially leaving mayors on the hook if the government doesn't come through.

Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan, who leads a group of mayors opposed to the plan, said he will never support the TransLink supplement: TransLink is continually forcing local taxpayers to pay extra taxes because its board and bureaucrats make all the decisions about what will be included in the base budget and then go to local politicians for extra money.  According to Corrigan, mayors have no say in the choices the TransLink board makes, and TransLink has many times spent money in its base budget on things the mayors would never agree to fund through taxes if they had a say.

TransLink is known for forcing stupid and widely hated policies on its users, for mismanaging money, and for then coming up with loony ideas for raising more of it, leading Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon to call it a "disaster circus."

Hate group is "alarmed"

Parents’ Voice member Homara Ahmad is "alarmed," according to the hate group's latest press release.  The group was created to oppose the Burnaby School Board's anti-homophobia policy.

According to the release, Parents' Voice members decided to file a freedom of information (FOI) request after reading a story in The Province about a student being bullied because he was skinny:

"Parents’ Voice members wanted to know the extent of the 'bullying' problem: who the perpetrators are--staff or students--and their targets."

It is unclear why Parents' Voice twice decided to use scare quotes around the word "bullying."

Allegedly, group member and spokesperson (they all seem to be spokespeople) Homara Ahmad made an FOI request for "copies of all reports, incidents recorded, and/or complaints made involving students, staff or any other person related to the operation of the Burnaby School District, that has been party to any form of bullying, assault, harassment, verbal abuse or any form of mean-spirited conduct, that has occurred on or near any property owned, managed or operated by School District 41," and demanded an exemption from fees, which was refused, leading the group to lose its collective mind.

Gordon World, another "spokesman," said:

"it seems highly unlikely that the incidents of reported bullying will justify the special attention directed to the political agenda of the sex activists involved in creating Policy 5.45. I believe this last point is the real issue. If the claims of sex activists were true, and a disproportionate number of children were being attacked based on sexual orientation, wouldn't the Burnaby School Board be more than willing to release this information to back up their claim?"

World is known for his outrageous homophobic lies, such as claiming that the murder of Aaron Webster was not an anti-gay hate crime and that gay men are responsible for most HIV infections and have a significantly shorter lifespan.

In another staggering display of homophobia, the press release goes on to add:

"Burnaby trustees, and others in positions of trust, should know better by now than to rely upon data and research generated by homosexual and other sex activists. Our children deserve better than to have policies developed by hyperbolic-spin propaganda, masquerading as research, generated by sex activists who want to promulgate their version of diversity politics and practices among our children, via the public education system. Parents’ Voice is against all forms of child abuse, including bullying, the political sexualization of children and the intellectual abuse of children by indoctrinating them with propaganda that falsely portrays sexual and emotional practices that can and do result in provable harm, as being 'acceptable.'"

Not coincidentally, this hate-filled press release coincides with the Outgames and Vancouver Pride.

An area of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside has an unusually high number of pedestrian fatalities. So, in it's latest stupid decision,Vancouver city council has voted to reduce the speed limit along six Downton Eastside blocks of East Hastings Street from 50km/h to 30 km/h.  The new slow zone (between the two red marks on the map, left) is a major artery into and out of the downtown core, heavily travelled by buses, cars, taxis and delivery vehicles.

The new slow zone's halfway point is Hastings and Main which, not coincidentally, is also the location of the city's largest open drug market, where narcotics are bought, sold, and consumed openly approximately one block from a large police station and a courthouse.  As anyone who has ever driven along Hastings Street between Cambie Street and Glen Drive will tell you, the issue along the stretch is not speeding drivers, and surveys have confirmed this.  Rather, the problem is the high proportion of junkies, alcoholics and mentally ill people who live and congregate in the area, and who regularly run out into the street without warning or--whether because they're too high or too sick to care about their own safety or anyone else's--simply wander into the road without looking.

Instead of doing something useful, sensible, and effective, such as installing barriers that prevent people from crossing the street except at controlled crosswalks like they do on dangerous streets in other major cities, in its latest idiotic decision, city councilors have decided to punish drivers who are already obeying the law.  Even worse, they have ignored studies going back as far as 1998 which show that changing speed limits on low and moderate speed roads has no significant effect on traffic speed or the number of crashes. 

Of course, new road rules require education and enforcement, and both cost money, but there has been no word on where the money will come from.

Are Torontonians finally realizing they made a mistake with Rob Ford?

The Globe and Mail's Marcus Gee reports that the tide may be turning against Toronto mayor Rob Ford. 

Known for his inappropriate remarks, Ford is coming under increasing fire for controversial behaviour and policies.  First, he boycotted Pride, becoming the first Toronto mayor in years not to attend.  Then he attracted complaints for his handling of the budget review at City Hall.  Residents are growing increasingly uneasy about talk of increasing taxes, cutting street cleaning, and closing public libraries and children's attractions.

Ford's brother, Councillor Doug Ford, has stated that he would close at least one Etobicoke library (he pronounces the word "lie-berry") in a “heartbeat.” When he was reminded that Margaret Atwood is a save-the-libraries campaign supporter, he declared: “she could walk by me, I wouldn’t have a clue who she is.”

Meanwhile, Ottilie Mason claims she was driving on Dundas with her child in the car when she saw Rob Ford talking on his cellphone while driving. When she made a thumbs-down gesture, she says he gave her the finger.  Ford has admitted that he was on the phone but denies making the rude gesture.  Gee reports that when Ford was caught drunkenly shouting insults at an out-of-town couple during a 2006 hockey game, he denied that too, only to admit it later and apologize.

Homosexuality is a treatable disorder: chief psychiatrist

Ghana--Homosexuality is a psychiatric disorder which can be treated, according to Akwasi Osei, Chief Psychiatrist at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Modern Ghana reports.

"The way forward is to let these people accept that they have a problem and that they can be treated."

"Conversion," "reparative" or "reorientation" therapy, while promoted by some conservative and extremist religious groups, is considered unethical and harmful by all the major mainstream psychological, psychiatric and medical organizations, and there has been no scientifically adequate demonstration of its efficacy.  Male same-sex sexual acts are illegal in Ghana.  Under the Criminal Code 1960– Chapter 6, Sexual Offences Article 105:

"Whoever is guilty of unnatural carnal knowledge— (a) of any person without his consent, is guilty of first degree felony; (b) of any person with his consent, or of any animal, is guilty of a misdemeanor."

Female same-sex sexual activity is not addressed by the law.

On July 21, 2011, Paul Evans Aidoo, the Western Region Minister, called for all gay people in the west of the country to be rounded up and arrested, and for landlords and tenants to inform on people they suspected of being gay.

Glenn Beck: Norway victims like "Hitler Youth"

American right-wing nutjob Glenn Beck, a favourite of the Tea Party, has compared Utøya victims of the Norwegian right-wing nutjob Anders Behring Breivik to the Nazi party's youth wing:

"There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler youth, or, whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics. Disturbing."

Torbjørn Eriksen, former press secretary to Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg, described the comment as "a new low" for Beck, adding:

"Young political activists have gathered at Utøya for over 60 years to learn about and be part of democracy, the very opposite of what the Hitler Youth was about. Glenn Beck's comments are ignorant, incorrect and extremely hurtful."

Beck lost his show on Fox when his increasingly crazy claims began to result in lower ratings and advertiser pullouts.  He accused US president Barack Obama of being a racist, and claimed that George Soros helped "send Jews to the death camps."

The Tea Party organizes summer camps at which children are taught about God, the US constitution and "the defence of economic liberty."

Anti-gay groups seek to reverse NY marriage equality law

Twenty-four hours after New York's first legal same-sex marriages were conducted, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn it the marriage equality law.  The group claims the Senate violated the state’s Open Meetings Law and ignored the constitutionally mandated three-day waiting period before a bill can be acted upon.  They also claimed that lawmakers approved the legislation in exchange for campaign contributions from "Wall Street financiers."

Gov. Cuomo's spokesman Josh Vlasto said "The plaintiffs lack a basic understanding of the laws of the state of New York. The suit is without merit.”

Meanwhile, State Senator Ruben Diaz, a minister and the only Democrat to vote against the marriage equality law, said that he would try to get Sunday’s marriages annulled claiming that judges broke the law by waiving the 24-hour waiting period without a good reason.

The Undefeated soundly defeated

Even as Sarah Palin documentary The Undefeated has increased its showings by 40 percent, its box office revenues have declined by more than 63 percent, and the film will soon be available on pay per view.  It played in 14 Tea Party-friendly locations this weekend but grossed an embarrassing $24,000.

Written and directed by Stephen K. Bannon and produced by Victory Film Group co-founder Glenn Bracken Evans and Dan Fleuette, "The Undefeated" was independently financed by Victory Film Group and its partners.

Washington Times condemns Pearl Harbor Tea Ceremony

Sen Genshitsu offers tea to Pearl Harbor victims.

In an "Analysis/Opinion" piece titled "Crashing the Party at Pearl Harbor" in right-wing "propaganda sheet" The Washington Times on Friday, former editor Wesley Pruden condemns a historic tea ceremony conducted by Dr. Sen Genshitsu, who served in the Japanese naval air force during World War II, (though not at Pearl Harbor), the 15th generation grand master of the  Urasenke school, as "political correctness run amok" and "misplaced sentiment."

In a short piece throbbing with ignorance and barely disguised racism, Pruden writes:

"The grand tea master of something called the Urasenke School of Tea in Japan brewed up a pot of ceremonial green tea and presented two bowls of it to the ghosts of the 1,177 men whose names are engraved in marble above their ship as 'the gallant men here entombed and their shipmates who gave their lives in action on December 7, 1941.' Genshitsu Sen XV, now 88, was a Japanese airman during World War II, though not at Pearl, and said his tea ceremony was a gesture of respect toward the dead, an attempt to make sure sacrifice was not forgotten, as well as a few words of ritual blah blah about world peace, mutual understanding, reconciliation and all that good stuff. Gov. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii went all starry-eyed and applied more goo-goo in response . . . The governor thinks the tea pots even hold a lesson for 'other people and countries warring with as much enmity and mutual misunderstanding as we once experienced ourselves.' Maybe it does, though to expect such an example to make friends of radical Muslims in the Middle East is to expect a lot from a little tea and sympathy."

The Urasenke school, which dates to the 16th century, is the largest school of traditional Japanese tea ceremony on Earth.  The current grand master is the 16th hereditary head of the school, which has branches all over the world, and also runs two accredited universities. 

In Japanese tea ceremony, tea is not "brewed" in a pot, as Pruden would have learned had he bothered to do 30 seconds of research; instead, it is prepared ceremonially by whisking powdered tea and water, in this case in a ceremony over a millennium and a half old, specifically for honouring the dead.  "Ceremonial tea-sipping at the USS Arizona" (had it actually taken place; sources indicate that it did not: bowls of tea were presented to the dead and for world peace) is not, therefore, "akin to crashing the funeral, as Pruden writes; instead, it is performing a memorial.  Not one the painfully parochial Pruden bothered to try to understand, evidently, but no less appropriate, symbolic, and heartfelt for it.

Pruden then goes compare the ceremony to Ronald Reagan's remarks about "another old foe now friendly, sort of," invoking that president's remarks about German soldiers:

"The SS troopers were human, perhaps, but [Reagan] was more than a few inches over the top to mourn storm troopers. They were the crushers working for the 'vicious ideology,' not the crushees [sic] . . . The Japanese tea master said his ceremony was meant to 'heal,' invoking the favorite soothing syrup of the therapeutic age, and no doubt it was. (Cue applause.) But some wounds can't be healed by a pot of tea, hot or iced. A tea party aboard the remains of the USS Arizona, however well-meant, is sentiment misplaced, and a little bit creepy. To think otherwise demeans the sacrifice of the men at the bottom of Pearl Harbor."

Pruden is known for his racism.  On November 17, 2009, he published an opinion piece titled "Obama bows, the nation cringes," in which he railed about what he claimed were President Obama's breaches of etiquette committed on his tour of Asia, such as bowing to Emperor Akihito of Japan.  Since Obama was "sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii," Pruden wrote, he "has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what [America] is about."

Gay blogger calls gays Nazis

Via Joe.My.God

Joe.My.God posts this screenshot of a tweet by Gay Patriot, a self-described "independent, political and opinion-based Weblog created by Bruce Carroll that is a forum focusing on gay conservative issues, themes, culture and ideas," which likens gay people to Nazis:

"Statement: Labeling the Gay Leftist [sic] radicals as the 'Gay Gestapo' is appropriate given their history of tactics.  Discuss."

We reported last week that Loree Rudd, sister of former Australian PM Kevin Rudd, has come under fire for accusing Labor members of being brainwashed by a "global gay Gestapo" to accept same-sex marriage.

The Gestapo was the secret police of Nazi Germany. It maintained offices at all Nazi concentration camps, where millions of gay men were executed along with Jews, political dissidents and others. The organization's normal methods of investigation included blackmail, threats, extortion, harassment, and torture. The Anti Defamation Commission has demanded an apology from Rudd, saying:

"It is completely unacceptable for anyone to co-opt and trivialise the name of one of the most active and feared arms of the Nazi machinery for their own political purposes. To use [the Gestapo's] name in this context shows a level of ignorance and insensitivity that has no place in contemporary political discourse. It is highly offensive, and we call upon Ms Rudd to apologise immediately and unreservedly."

JMG notes that Gay Patriot "got ALL bent out of shape" when he referred to gay conservative group GOProud as kapos and Quislings because that was "'defamatory language' directed at fellow gays."  GOProud has recently made the news for announcing its support for viciously homophobic US presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann.

Céline Dion demands Ridiculous Pictures of Céline Dion shut down

The owner of a Tumblr blog titled Ridiculous Pictures of Céline Dion has received a threatening letter from the singer's lawyers demanding the blog be shut down:

"céline dion found our blog, and she didn’t like it. we just got a letter from céline’s lawyers that the blog has to be shut down. though this blog is well within the realm of ‘fair use’, i don’t have the money or time to get a lawyer to respond. the dream is over."

The blog owner goes on to clarify that it was not Dion herself who found the blog and initiated contacted, blaming her "publicity and legal team."

The blog has been scrubbed of all but one ridiculous picture of Céline Dion (left).

Fair use is an exception to copyright law.  It allows for limited use of copyrighted material without permission, for things such as  commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test. The term "fair use" originated in the United States, but similar exceptions exist in many other jurisdictions.

This certainly appears to be a case where fair use is a legitimate argument for using the photos on the blog, and it's a no less egregious example of the super-rich circumventing laws by virtue of their ability to spend a lot of money for the small size and insignificant nature of the blog.

There is, however, a bright side: a Google images search for "ridiculous photos of Celine Dion" returned 4,160,000 totally ridiculous results, while a Google web search for "ridiculous pictures of celine dion" returned nearly as many, most lamenting the demise of the site and lambasting the over the top singer.

Hi, little girl. Want some candy?

A woman in Edmonton is outraged after members of a church approached her child in a play area offering candy and a Bible verse, and promising the girl more candy if she memorized the passage.  Evidently these church-going nitwits have never heard that strangers approaching children with offers of sweets is just a little bit totally fucking creepy.  According to Kathleen Crowe, her nine year-old was playing in MacEwan Park when she was approached by a couple from the Victory Christian Center.

Church representatives declined to be interviewed, but released a statement saying: "The program is based on something churches have been doing for more than 20 years throughout Canada and the U.S. ... Our team was given the OK to do this and that's what was done."  In fact, the church has a permit allowing it to host activities like crafts and singing, but not for handling out religious materials.

Stephen "ordinary people don't care about the arts" Harper to appear on "Murdoch"

For reasons nobody understands, Stephen "Lego™ man hair" Harper will appear on tonight's episode of "Murdoch Mysteries."  Canada's supreme dictator for life prime minister is known for his disdain for the arts, cutting $45 million from arts and culture programmes, attempting to limit tax funding for Canadian film productions by denying credits to those with so-called objectionable content, and reducing funding to the CBC.  Meanwhile, the Harper government has hiked spending on military projects like new ‎fighter jets.

The idiot Harper will play a bit role as a desk clerk on tonight's "Murdoch," the latest in a series of bizarre, horrible, and some would argue cynical and calculated attempts to appear interested in and engaged with arts, or at least the popular entertainment scene.  These have included performing embarrassing renditions of classic rock songs at Conservative gala dinners and appearing for reporters with 10 year-old Maria Aragon, a little girl who found sudden internet fame after posting a video of herself singing Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" on YouTube.

The latter performance is one that stands out for its sheer audacity and lack of taste: a hard-right, nationalist, pro-military, religious conservative responsible for millions in arts cuts singing John Lennon's "Imagine," a song whose message goes against everything Harper stands for.  The mind reels.

Luckily that is one video that won't be seen again: it was removed from YouTube for "copyright reasons." Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow and a noted anti-war activist, owns the rights to the song (thousands of other cover versions of remain on YouTube).  You can, however, see a clip of Harper on "Murdoch," if you really want to:



Update: Worst. Episode. Ever.

Bachmann's anti-gay clinic in terrifying glitter attack

That shit is hard to get out.

US anti-gay conservative nutjob Michele Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinic, Bachmann & Associates, was the focus of a glitter attack by a more than a dozen "barbarians" Thursday morning.  The clinic is run by Bachmann's possibly gay husband Marcus, who is on record using the term "barbarians" for LGBT people.

The group was protesting the publicly funded clinic's practice of offering so-called "reparative therapy," an approach rejected by all mainstream science, to "cure" people of their homosexuality.  The clinic has taken in more than $137,000 in government funds despite Bachmann's strong opposition to government involvement in health care.

The group's aim was to glitter "Dr." Marcus Bachmann; since he wasn't available, the "glitterati"  glittered the waiting room instead, shouting, “You can’t pray away the gay — baby, I was born this way!”

Update: watch the whole thing on video:

TransLink introduces idiotic new changes to the U-Pass programme

TransLink has made substantial new changes to the U-Pass programme.  The U-Pass was introduced as a mandatory programme for University of British Columbia students in 2003.  Under its conditions, students paid a fixed rate as part of their student fees, and received a pass by mail which was valid for unlimited public transit use, one for the winter term (September - April) and one for the summer term (April - August).  Fees for the winter term were $190, or $23.75 per month.  The pass had the student's photograph, a magnetic strip, and was colour-coded according to which specific period it was valid for (an example of an old UBC U-Pass is pictured at left).

Since the programme was introduced various other Lower Mainland universities and colleges have signed up, often with great resistance from TransLink, which demanded significantly higher fees from students at some schools.

One of the requirements of the programme is that it is very difficult to opt out.  Most registered students cannot opt out unless they have a medical condition which requires them to take alternative forms of transportation, or they are already covered under a different transit pass programme.  This applies even to students in graduate programmes who do not attend classes and do most of their work off campus.  Subsidies are available to some students who are not eligible to opt out but who cannot afford the cost of the pass.

Under the new changes, set to come into effect in September, fees are increasing to $30 per month, or $240 for the winter term.  An extra $50 in fees may not seem like much over an 8-month period, but for most students it could easily pay for one or two text books, school supplies or a much-needed item of clothing, or cover the cost of food for a week.  Still, for students who rely on transit, $30 per month remains a significant savings over the roughly $80-$150 it costs for a full-price monthly transit pass, although the introduction of the Pass has caused other problems, like overcrowding on buses; car users driving partway to campus, taking up all the parking in nearby residential areas, and taking the bus the rest of the way; and ongoing complaints from people who use alternative forms of transportation like cycling.

Besides the price hike, the new passes will no longer bear the student's photo; instead, every U-Pass holder will now be forced to carry her or his student ID, which must be produced along with the pass when boarding transit vehicles or when proof of payment is demanded.  This is idiotic enough, but even more stupidly, instead of the 4- or 8-month passes which were mailed to continuing students in the past, each new U-Pass will now have to be replaced every month.

The new cards will be dispensed by a machine, which will presumably check the student's continuing eligibility before spitting out a new card.  While the logical place for TransLink to put these machines is at train stations, the "disaster circus" that is TransLink doesn't do logical.  Instead, unbelievably, every student will be required to physically go to their campus U-Pass carding office to get a new card every single month during the period in which the student is eligible for a pass.

Most carding offices are located at campus book stores, and anyone who has ever braved one of these otherwise wonderful places at the start of term will immediately understand what a colossally cretinous plan this is: 50,000 students trying to buy text books in one shop means queues that rival the bread lines in former Soviet nations, extra staff working extra hours, general frustration, and a less than pleasant shopping experience.  Indeed, one of the major complaints when the U-Pass programme was introduced was the long lines at carding offices at the start of term. This problem was solved by switching to the system of mailing the passes shortly before the start of term.  In its wisdom, TransLink has obviously forgotten about this, or it simply hasn't occurred to its Board (most of the overpaid, under-worked members of which likely never even use public transit) that giant lineups might be a problem.  Or they simply don't care.

New machines, new cards, and the need to produce 8-12 passes per student per year instead of 2, also mean extra expenses and less money to pay for transit services.  So why is TransLink making this latest in a long line of stupid decisions?  As usual, because the inmates are running the asylum.  TransLink is notorious for making bad decisions, ignoring its users, and generally mismanaging its money (see our earlier story on the decision to finally install fare gates at train stations, 25 years after the SkyTrain made its debut).

The only possible explanation for this new rule is the fraudulent use of U-Pass cards.  A U-Pass is non-transferable, meaning it may only be used by the person in whose name it is issued (which is to say, on the old passes, the person whose photograph is on the card).  Each student must pay in advance for the 4 or 8 month period during which he or she will be eligible for the programme.  If the student leaves the participating school for any reason during that time, his or her U-Pass privileges are cancelled and the student's card disabled.  However, Because SkyTrain currently runs on the "honour system" and bus drivers do not usually inspect passes or require pass holders to insert their cards in the fare box for verification, it is fairly easy to illegally use a cancelled, stolen, or borrowed U-Pass.

But as usual, TransLink has provided no rationale, no evidence that this is actually a widespread problem, and no explanation of how the new system will solve it.  What could help solve the problem, if it actually exists, would be returning to requiring each bus passenger to insert the card into the fare box for verification; this system was abandoned long ago because it slows boarding to a molasses-like crawl, throwing off schedules, increasing trip lengths, and irritating everyone.  Additionally, there have been problems in the past that caused fare boxes to read all U-Passes as invalid, requiring the re-issuing of all U-Passes.  And now that the new passes will no longer bear the holder's photograph, drivers are even less likely than before to be able to verify at a glance whether a given U-Pass user is the legitimate holder of that card.  Requiring riders to show both their school ID (which has a photo) and their U-Pass (which no longer will) would only be making the latter less efficient than it used to be.

Requiring users to acquire a new card every month will certainly reduce the use of stolen cards, although there is no evidence that this is a big problem anyway.  But it will not reduce the use of borrowed cards (for example, people who drive cars loaning their passes to friends who do not), because U-Pass holders can have their card collected by someone else if they choose.

Additionally, while under the old system TransLink (or its armed goons) was able to confirm on the spot whether a given U-Pass was current or was being used by its legitimate user by simply scanning its magnetic strip and looking at the photograph, it has not announced whether it will still be possible to confirm by scanning an expired monthly pass that its holder is actually still enrolled in the U-Pass programme.  It is very easy to imagine busy, stressed out students forgetting to make a special trip to update their bus pass, particularly those who do not ordinarily have to go to campus.  It is also obvious that many students will be out of town during the period when old cards expire and new ones become available, leaving them without a legitimate pass on their return.  It is outrageous that people who have been forced to prepay for a transit pass might face fines or arrest simply for forgetting to have a new card printed.

The only thing this new plan achieves is to purposely make a system (one that was surprisingly efficient by TransLink standards) more costly and less efficient.  It will result in increased traffic to universities and colleges on already overburdened roads and transit routes around the beginning of each month, and will cause headaches for book stores and carding offices.

Call TransLink's "customer feedback" centre at 604.953.3040 between 8am and 8pm, or use their online form.  Head office, open weekdays between 8am and 4pm, is at 1600 - 4720 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4N2, and the phone number is 604.453.4500.