Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexYVR
Which is why I made sure to bold North American model. Put half the population of the United States onto a series of islands the size of California and, yes, transit will work.
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Japan's government also built the foundation and handed it over.
Highways are also tolled (and they're not cheap, driving to Seattle would probably cost $40-$50 in tolls) For many it's a financial decision. In addition, most jobs include transit costs in their wage and pay the employees to take transit.
Gas costs a bit more (~$1.25/L), though that's offset by the fact that everyone drives more efficient cars.
80% of the country is mountains, meaning rice fields, farms and people are very concentrated into the 20% that is left.
In the end, yes, population concentration is a part of it, but there are a lot of other factors helping out that make transit more desireable and affordable (or make other alternatives LESS affordable). Some of these could be implemented here.
One person mentioned that having one price for all universities would be "communist". Two comments:
- "Communist" isn't a word that people in this country respond to with vitriol, and it isn't as effective as it is in the US at inspiring fear.
- The word you're probably looking for is "Socialist"
Having all Uni students pay the same is more akin to the "socialist" way that health care system works in this country. For better, or for worse.
It really has nothing to do with "fairness" to students, it has more to do with decreasing maintenance costs and standardization for all universities. This issue will come up every time these things get renewed. Why not just work toward a standard for all Universities and say: take it or leave it. Uni students won't stop paying transit and you can pretty much guarantee that it will find an equilibrium a whole lot easier than individual bartering.
Of course, this will probably all have to wait until UBC has to renew its U-Pass status.