Castanet

Drunks are taxpayers too. The whole city benefits from keeping them off the roads too. One of my fondest memories is taking the city bus back to Richmond at 1AM after the BC Place AC/DC show and my friend starting the bus into a sing along. We rocked that bus.

jennylives wrote:Drunks are taxpayers too. The whole city benefits from keeping them off the roads too. One of my fondest memories is taking the city bus back to Richmond at 1AM after the BC Place AC/DC show and my friend starting the bus into a sing along. We rocked that bus.

Sounds like you had a blast down memory lane, but did the taxpayers pay for your bus ride back to Richmond or did you have change left after the AC/DC concert and pay your own way for "the wheels on the bus go around and around"

Buses haven't been free in the past. When the city did try extending the hours and offering free service one year, it ended in damaged buses and not enough ridership to warrant putting on the service.

I think there are a lot of people in this town that would sign up to work a few NYE,s in a row, in order to have a steady fulltime job..
Even when they have free NYE busses, the drivers get paid..as far as I know..

There is a thing called personal responsibility. I would prefer tax monies go to something useful rather than ferrying drunk people around.

Free buses wont curb drunk driving. People not driving while drunk will curb drunk driving. They make a choice to do it.

And as per the above article, they tried doing free night for new years and it didn't work out. Low ridership and high vandalism. Not really a useful to have buses going around burning gas for a handful of people who will turn out ultimately to cause more costs via damages.

So it turns out this was tried and failed. Yes too bad for some, but reality wins out in this case.

I think the free rides are a great idea, it's only one night a year and I am sure the city wastes more money on things that have no benefit to it's taxpayers.

There were people standing in the middle of the road in freezing temps asking for rides all night on new years because the cabs couldn't keep up.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/bc+transit+re ... story.html

The third nasty incident in three years has B.C. Transit reviewing its program of Free New Year's Eve bus service around Trail, B.C.

Meribeth Burton spokeswoman for B.C. Transit said approximately 200 drunk and rowdy youth surrounded the 1 a.m. free ride in Rossland on New Year's Day, which prompted a call for RCMP escorts and a review of the service in general.

"In the last three years, there have been problems with intoxicated youth, on our buses (in Greater Trail)," she explained.

"It's a problem and something we are taking a very hard look at."

According to Burton, the large group of intoxicated youth surrounded the bus and starting banging on it, accompanied by other, "general bad behaviour."

Sergeant Robert Hawton of the Trail RCMP detachment said police responded but the group had dispersed. No charges were laid.

Burton said that driver safety was addressed a few years ago, with the hiring of a private security guard for each driver on every bus.

"This year, the operator and the security detail felt they had to leave the area for safety reasons.

"However, for example, Victoria offered exactly the same service, and we had not one complaint."

Approximately 400 revellers in Greater Trail boarded the New Year's Eve ride, and 65 riders in Castlegar took advantage of the free program.

B.C. Transit operated free extended hours in 132 communities with 15 to 20 of those communities offering free and extended service.

"It's a small minority that who may end up spoiling this tremendous service for everyone else," said Burton. (Trail Times)



Read it on Global News: Global BC | B.C. Transit reviewing New Year's Eve Free Rides in West Kootenay

sounds like the bus kept a lot of drunk youth of the streets ! there should be more busses if demand is that great ! 400 ppl !

theyeti wrote:sounds like the bus kept a lot of drunk youth of the streets ! there should be more busses if demand is that great ! 400 ppl !

That was in Trail, not Kelowna.

And as previously stated by Kelowna transit, when they did this a few years ago ridership was quite low.

Really people ???

It's only 2 and a quarter.....

Why do I have to subsidize some drunk to go downtown ???

Agree with all the posters that it should not be free.. IMO the buses should run later though and at least give an option to those who may have had one to many.. But charge $ 5 or maybe 10 bucks for the ride.. for those that can use the service still cheaper than a cab and way safer and cheaper than a DUI

mikett744 wrote:Agree with all the posters that it should not be free.. IMO the buses should run later though and at least give an option to those who may have had one to many.. But charge $ 5 or maybe 10 bucks for the ride.. for those that can use the service still cheaper than a cab and way safer and cheaper than a DUI

See. NOw there is a smart response. Nobody ever considers how much it costs if you get caught behind the wheel impaired. And not just the monitary. It can ruin marriages and lives.

That is a great idea they should run free to midnight then 5. Or 6 bux to get home..still better than an hour wait for a cab..