This letter was sent to Manuel Achadinha, president and CEO of BC Transit, and copied to The Chief for publication
Mr. Achadinha,
They say coercion is never an effective way to change behaviour. Well, I have been the Co-ordinator of the 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 Climate Action Network for over a year now and not once has this fact deterred my best friends from driving single occupancy vehicles to my place to enjoy some social time together.
In contrast, the new drinking/driving laws have - now, they invariably turn up at my door on their bikes, rain or shine.
In 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, we are putting a lot of effort into spreading awareness about the benefits of using public transport.
Since we are doing it without coercion, progress is slow in coming; slowly but surely, however, we are gaining headway and increasing ridership.
Likely, many other communities in the province are routing volunteer efforts in the same direction.
To those of us trying to usher people onto the buses, the new drinking/driving laws come across as an early Christmas present gracefully placed by BC Transit's tree. Here's a golden opportunity not to be missed; it carries no need for grandiose or costly pleading, advertising campaigns.
I hope BC Transit will take the cue and not let the opportunity go simply by. At the recent annual Union of BC Municipalities convention in Whistler, BC Transit officials warned that the service around the province will become unsustainable within five years unless ridership can be driven up.
Mr Achadinha, we cannot use something that is not there for us to use. The new drinking/driving laws can be taken as a call to action.
At the very least, I hope you will be willing to test the waters and collaborate closely with local governments in introducing pilot programs that will most probably highlight our immediate need to embrace public transit full on - we want buses running during the day, into the night and throughout the weekend now.
Here's your chance to turn BC Transit into an example in alleviating, rather than compounding, the ever-expanding problem of desertification of our social, urban centres. People are increasingly relegated to confinement in the space within their four walls at home, which thwarts their ability to contribute to the betterment and enrichment of our communities.
Time and time again, we are presented with the Catch-22 situation that we cannot increase transit service because we don't have the ridership.
The new drinking/driving laws have businesses scrambling and digging deep into their pockets trying to offer shuttle services to their customers.
Let's beat them to it - I'd say the ridership is already waiting at the bus-stop.
Ana Santos
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