Free transit for West Kootenay riders this Earth Day

by Jaime Frederick, Local Journalism Initiative

Public transit riders in the West Kootenay won’t have to pay fares on Earth Day this Wednesday, April 22, thanks to a collaboration between BC Transit and West Kootenay Transit. Tom Dool, who oversees transit services for the Regional District of Central Kootenay, says the initiative aims to encourage people to use public transportation, limit greenhouse gas emissions and leave their vehicles at home. 

“I’m sure there’s a percentage of people who do, on Earth Day, leave their cars at home and decide to use public transit as a gesture,”  says Dool. “But I think anytime we have the opportunity to get more people on the public transportation system, we should absolutely take it.”

Keith Wiley, an activist with West Kootenay Transit Action and the soon to be launched Public Transit Alliance of British Columbia, agrees, noting the environmental benefit.

“It’s great to have a free ride for everybody in the West Kootenay on Earth Day,” says Wiley. “Transit is a big environmental improvement and any transit saves climate emissions. It really helps our environment.”

Both Wiley and Dool note that saving the planet comes at a relatively minor expense. The cost in foregone revenue of offering free fares on Earth Day is shared roughly equally by BC Transit and its local government partners. Wiley says that since transit is already subsidized by taxpayers, his organization would like to see free access expanded to improve the use of public transit. 

“The key to free transportation is having it every day,” he says. “And that really does boost use of the transit system…. The Public Transit Alliance of BC says transit should be free for teens up to the age of 18 and free for all seniors.”

While that idea would undoubtedly be popular among transit users, BC Transit spokesperson Jamie Weiss notes some municipalities are already offering free transit to certain sectors of the population, and adds that transit across BC is already free for children 12 and under.

“That’s been a really great way for young people to get used to taking the bus and then building that ridership of the future,” says Weiss. “And right now there are some communities that are offering free transit for 13 to 18 year olds…. Decisions around fares and free service are made by our local government partners because they’re the ones that collect all the fare revenue, which helps offset their cost of operating transit.” 

Dool suggests that the cost of transit is worth every penny. He notes that the West Kootenay Transit system sees approximately 1,000,000 riders per year, or an average of more than 2,700 riders per day. And he says getting more people on buses contributes not only to lower greenhouse gas emissions but also lowers traffic congestion, noting that busy routes in and around Nelson and between Nelson and Castlegar see a combined ridership of more than 200,000 rides per year.

“Think about that in terms of the number of cars that that keeps out of the city of Nelson,” he says. “Think about how that helps to reduce parking issues…. Think about the number of cars that keeps off what is a pretty risky stretch of highway…. We’re just making the roads safer. We’re making them more efficient. We’re getting people to their destinations on time.”

Wiley, for his part, agrees and would just like to see transit expanded to serve more of the province with better service.

“The fact of the matter is in BC you can’t get there from here on transit and that needs to change,” he says. “People need the right to get around, and affordably and regularly with highly frequent buses.”

Wiley’s group, the BC Public Transit Alliance will be kicking off its work on April 28th – to get involved or for more information, visit westcoastclimateaction.ca.