#freepublictransit for youth "shouldn't even be a debate"

This shouldn't even be a debate. #Nanaimo maintains roads for $Millions/year that cars use for free. We allow parking on the sides of our roads for free. Imagine the outcry if we instituted a fee of $5/car to drive on the roads each day just like we do for people using transit. https://t.co/F5KYLB3Fki

— Don Bonner (@donbonner) February 27, 2020

#freepublictransit would make healthcare provision much easier for old and poor

Maintenance of fares is maintenance of inequality in public transit access, and access to public life.
Social isolation is as dangerous as smoking and affects many, especially older adults.
I hope very much that some of these issues will be raised in the next installments.
Has the author of this piece ever watched a medical problem of a client living in poverty worsen, endangering the person's life, because they lack access to transportation?
I have, as an outreach worker in Victoria.
I've had the painful job of distributing limited bus tickets to people in Victoria living in extreme poverty. It's horrifying.
When we say that something costs the healthcare system money, we're usually saying that it violently harms those in society with the least power.
I agree that we need to be realistic about the costs of creating equity in transit, as we do when we work for equitable access to healthcare and all other resources.
The transportation is what gets people to those other resources.
I just hope that those of us who are privileged enough to be able to take transit have some respect for what it actually means to lack that access when we discuss this issue.
Isolation from community, opportunities, healthcare, and often safety from dangers of other options.
I'm very lucky to have a Vancouver transit pass right now because I'm in university, but a few years back I was struggling financially after a BSc and was dealing with health issues. I was too poor to take the bus often, and biked when I wasn't really well enough to.
It was a very sad and difficult feeling to have to bike in all weather while I was sick because I didn't have much money. On one of the days during this period I had a near miss of a very serious accident with a truck, in which I could have died or been seriously injured.
It's very possible that all of this will be discussed in future installments.
But just in case, I wanted to remind us all what it means to put off finding these "major new taxpayer funds".
Other taxpayer funds, and very real suffering in our communities, are on the line.

https://twitter.com/lizoftheisland/status/1236469335578705920