Balanced budgets are important. And those who are charged with ensuring that we live within our means have an unenviable task. Everyone wants more money, and everyone believes their cause is justified. In the end though, tough decisions have to be made. I understand that.
Our transit system has received media attention lately and much of it has been unduly negative — as though finding fault with it will somehow make cuts more palatable. Images of empty buses roaming aimlessly around Nelson’s streets, guzzling untold gallons of fuel without restraint come to mind.
My understanding is that our new buses use 15 to 20 per cent more fuel compared to the old buses, and that one reason for the higher consumption is that more fuel is required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It seems counter intuitive, but I’m told there is a trade off between improving fuel economy and protecting the environment.
The issue of lower ridership, particularly in the evening and on weekends, has led to a call for possible cuts at those times. But off-peak periods are unavoidable in transit systems everywhere and should be seen as part of the cost of providing the service. In the case of firefighters or police officers, for example, we accept the variable service they provide between emergencies and we value their departments as a whole.
The challenge in transit is to ensure efficiency without cutting service to the point at which the schedule becomes inadequate for riders. During off-peak periods, riders are still using the system but in fewer numbers. Make too many cuts and overall ridership decreases. As it stands, only one bus runs hourly after 7:45 p.m. weekdays. On Saturdays, the North Shore bus runs until 4:45 p.m. and the city bus runs hourly until 7:15 p.m. On Sunday, only one bus offers hourly daytime service.
The most recent BC Transit census took place in November 2008, and it shows that overall Nelson Transit’s numbers are good. Revenue passengers (paid fares) for that year were 292,631, a steady annual increase from 207,224 in 2004. The rides per capita (population divided by paid fares) was 20.9, placing Nelson in the top one third of Tier 3 (comparable communities) transit systems in B.C.
I suggest that we hold off any cuts to transit for one year. During that time we can gather accurate statistics on ridership (via the new fare boxes) and fuel consumption, and make a concerted effort to increase ridership.
Nelson Transit is a gem worth protecting. It’s an asset that sets us apart from and is the envy of other small communities. It’s about choice, and it’s about how we value all members of our community, particularly those for whom public transit is a necessity, not an option. It is a natural fit with Nelson’s green initiative, especially in light of urban expansion plans. And a robust, user-friendly transit system will serve us well in the future if we nurture it.
Let’s be visionaries and, in the spirit of our pioneers and Streetcar 23, continue to build on a tradition that began over 100 years ago.
Doug Pierik, Transit driver