Transportation improvement vote “Yes” side targets select demographic
Posted February 22, 2015 1:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The ‘Yes’ side in the upcoming vote on transportation improvements is campaigning right now to a select group of people to cast a ballot in their favour. They’re pushing for new grads and students to jump on the bus.
They’re also appealing to single moms like Ayesha who spends much of her time raising her three young daughters. She lives in YWCA housing in Surrey and finds it difficult to afford a car so having better transit options is why she’ll be voting yes.
She also goes to school full-time and doesn’t feel her current bus schedule is good enough. “Most of the time I’m late for school because the frequency of buses is every 20 or 30 minutes. And sometimes it’s late, which makes me more late for school and even if I miss 15 or 20 minutes, I miss a lot.”
“And I’m worried that what if I get a job — I can’t rely on buses because I can’t be late. For the amount of money, I think it’s expensive, the fare that I’m paying for the bus.”
This recent UBC grad says she has a car, but it spends its time parked at her parents’ house in Kelowna. “That’s because the costs to insure it and run it are so high here in Vancouver. And I think I did the math, it would cost me between $300 and $400 a month to be able to run my car and in that case I think I’d rather opt for my two-zone bus pass.”
She lives in Vancouver but works in North Vancouver and adds having increased SeaBus service, which is one of the promises should the vote go through, would be helpful.
Last week, new polling numbers from Insights West showed the ‘Yes’ side had better get its campaign on track if it hopes to win when the ballots are counted. Support for the 0.5 per cent tax has fallen to 38 per cent in just a few weeks — that’s a drop of eight points.
Meantime, the ‘No’ side is surging. It now has 53 per cent support — an increase of 11 points.
You should get your mail-in ballot soon as voting in the plebiscite runs between March 16th and May 29th.
What’s your take on the mail-in referendum on paying for transit and transportation improvements?
We’re offering you the chance to join our exclusive News1130/PlaceSpeak conversation.
