No free rides, really?

[Catz]

Yes I can see that, but as a community like ours...it should have been offered IMO...once a year and I pay taxes.
Would have voted yes, even though I do not use it. Makes sense to me.

[grammafreddy]

Yes I can see that, but as a community like ours...it should have been offered IMO...once a year and I pay taxes.
Would have voted yes, even though I do not use it. Makes sense to me.

Do you use the transit system at all the rest of the year?

[Catz]

That has nothing to do with it...

[SurplusElect]

How many people here stayed home on NYE solely because the buses weren't running later and weren't free?

...and how many drunk drivers stayed home because the police ran a road block across town?

Helps to ask valid questions like...

What was the wait time for a cab in Kelowna on New Years eve? A hour? Two hours?

The idea is when people know the buses are free and run late on New Years, they are more likely to take a bus home. As I said before the city I grew up in regularly had free extended service on New Years so it almost became a tradition of sorts that was woven into the fabric of the community that everyone knew they were able to ride the bus on New Years eve without charge and that the buses ran very late.

[MAPearce]

I would have voted NO.....

It's only 2.25...4.50 round trip is less than one drink in a bar.. People can afford that , I don't want to afford to rebuild a bunch of bus seats for a one day a year event..

[MAPearce]

What was the wait time for a cab in Kelowna on New Years eve? A hour? Two hours?

??? big deal , do you expect the bus to run till 3 am ?

even MORE cost to the tax payer for just one night..

The idea is when people know the buses are free and run late on New Years, they are more likely to take a bus home

yeup ... and tear the snot out of them..because it's "free"

[oneh2obabe]

Priorities nix free NYE transit
by Wayne Moore - Story: 85310
Jan 2, 2013 / 3:35 pm

It's been at least five years since New Year's Eve revellers in the Central Okanagan were able to get a free ride home and that isn't expected to change anytime soon.

Despite a recent Castanet poll in which 967 (82.44%) people believe a free service should be offered New Year's Eve like it is in other communities, Kelowna Regional Programs Manager, Jerry Dombowsky, says such a service is not feasible here.

Dombowsky says, unlike larger systems in cities like Vancouver and Victoria, weekday service ends at 11:30 p.m.

Would be nice if he checked the schedule before saying weekday service ends at 11:30PM. Buses leaving downtown after 11:30PM ... #1 - 12:00PM, #8 - 12:10AM, #10 - 12:10AM, #23 - 12:55AM, #97 - 12:05AM, 12:35AM, 1:05AM, 1:35AM, 2:05AM.

Dombowsky says the decision was made at the regional transit level and, while City Councils throughout the region do provide transit with direction, they typically don't get involved in day-to-day decisions like this unless they receive enough complaints or see a demand and ask for further information. The final decision whether to offer free NYE service lies with council, not transit in Victoria.

[grammafreddy]

That has nothing to do with it...

It does.

If providing this "free" service on NYE meant cutting some route back or even starting later on Dec 31 in order to avoid overtime wages, it might mean you might not get to where you needed to be at a certain time or even at all.

It is far from "free" and the bucks for transit are limited. Is it okay to trim from one place of regular service which people depend on to provide a "free" ride home for the drunks?

Maybe the bus drivers should donate their time and the fuel companies could give free fuel and the security companies could provide free employees to ride each bus, too?

And maybe the citizens who think this should be a free service on NYE should go down to the bus yards and clean up the puke and graffiti on these buses, too - for free, of course - and before the next day's run starts.

[oneh2obabe]

??? big deal , do you expect the bus to run till 3 am ?

But it's okay to have 5 runs after 11:30PM Monday-Friday to UBCO so students can get back to the campus?

[sulchie]

Walking's not crowded, I had a nice walk home from Rutland to Westbank! I wasn't about to pay $50 or whatever it is for a cab from there.

[Tero]

Walking's not crowded, I had a nice walk home from Rutland to Westbank! I wasn't about to pay $50 or whatever it is for a cab from there.

You walked from Rutland to Westbank?? LoL, NO WAY!!! Man, if you were drunk when you left you'd have been sober when you arrived!

The good news is that if you'd passed out somewhere along the way there's little risk here in the Okanagan on most nights of freezing to death. (I wonder if the temp is a consideration of free transit in other COLDER Canadian cities?)

[sulchie]

Yeah, I don't really remember anything until I got to the bridge, but there's no law against drunken pedestrianing. Only took a couple hours!

[Whyme2]

I've got a idea!.....if those planing on going out next New Year's Eve maybe you could start saving for the $4.50 return bus fare now and you'll be prepared in the case transit doesn't offer free bus service next year.

[theyeti]

[callotto]

Shouldn't the bars, nightclubs, and restaurants pay for this? After all they are the main beneficiaries.